Someone to Save You
by neurotic nymph
Summary: She lived an absolutely normal life but she never expected her father, a scientist to be involved in something so over his head it would ultimately turn her life upside down forcing her into the presence of the very unsociable Griffin O’Connor.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** So this is a project meant to be just for fun. It's been nagging at me to write and I was somewhat hesitant on posting it. There are a few kinks I'm sure, so don't hold it against me and I'm well aware of the Jumper books, but for this story I won't touch on them. This story will take place a couple years before the movie. So as you read this first chapter, please try not to be too harsh with it. Don't forget to review, thanks!

**Disclaimer:** Of course, in no way shape or form do I own Jumper nor am making money with it. If I did, Griffin would have had a much larger part and David would've been…better.

Chapter One

The sky held a tinge of darkness as the clouds shrouded over the sun. Crisp fall air had everyone in respectable coats and hats as they traveled about outside. It wasn't the nicest of fall days, with wind nipping at exposed skin and clouds looking as if to threaten rain, but it wasn't unexpected for that time of the year. Like clock work, the seasons settled in and everyone adjusted. Shorts and tank tops were traded in for coats and scarves. Hot for cold.

When she was little she used to love the cold weather. Come fall there would be no stopping her from building up piles of leaves so high they'd almost be bigger than her. The sensation of that first jump into a perfectly accumulated heap of deadened leaves was purely magical. In the winter meant snow, which for her meant snowballs, icicles, snowmen and as much hot chocolate that she could drink. The more frigid the weather, the better she had always thought because the colder the weather the more snow was brought.

When you're a kid you never notice how cold or hot the weather is. Things like that were of little importance. Attention was focused on all the fun that was brought due to the fact that the seasons changed. That stage in her life had long since passed and she now noticed the frosty temperatures. Putting on extra layers was a hassle and she always lost her gloves, which was the case at the moment. She stuffed her hands deeper into the pockets of her coat in an effort to stave off the cold.

The walk home should have taken her fifteen minutes but it felt like a lot longer. She wanted to check her watch but that would mean taking her hand out of the warmth her pocket provided. She shuffled along hoping that she made it home before she froze to death. She was all too happy when she reached the familiar door of her home since childhood. She pushed the door open and instantly felt the comfortable heat.

The sound of the television came from the kitchen and slipshod banging could be heard from the basement. She dumped her backpack by the door and shed her hat and coat off, tossing them onto the coat rack. With a rumbling stomach, she made her way to the kitchen, eager to see what was for dinner. Usually a smell of something good took over the house, but there was no mouth watering aromas greeting her. Her mother loved cooking and almost by nature she followed in her wake with the talent.

"Parker sweetie, you're home."

Her mother was at the table, engrossed in whatever latest novel was taking up her time. From time to time that happened. Some new book from her favorite author would come out and for the next week she'd be no good to anybody. She glanced around the kitchen to see nothing cooking before answering her mother.

"Hey ma, new book I see."

"Mmhm," she replied turning a page.

Shaking her head, she turned and opened the refrigerator. A quick hunt around found her a can of spaghetti sauce. She pulled it out and went to the cupboard for the noodles she knew were there. Nothing special, a spaghetti dinner, but it'd be enough to satisfy. She gathered together necessary pots and filled one with water setting it on the stove.

The television was set to the six o'clock news, the chipper Dana Struthers was reporting on the scientific proof of how chocolate can boost happy emotions. She opted to turn the channel of the news which she never liked watching and instead replaced it with a cartoon channel. There was nothing better than getting out of the cold and cooking to Ren & Stimpy. Once her water was at a boil, she tossed in the noodles and dusted off her hands for a job well done.

"I forgot to check for mail today. Be a dear and go see for me, will you?"

She almost glared at her mother for making her go back into the cold, but she reeled it back. "Sure."

She walked through the living room, passed up her coat and opted for running outside. She jogged to the crooked banged up mail box. It was pea green, missing the trademark flag and Hales was painted on the side in red lettering. The box was filled with the usual junk; pamphlet from the army trying to get her to enlist─ at that she raised an eyebrow, she was the most un-athletic, scrawny person in the history of ever and a relationship with the army would certainly kill her─ there was a book of coupons, an electric bill that would probably drive her mom nuts and a note addressed to her father.

Mail for her father was rare; in fact he got none if it wasn't a bill. Deciding to further inspect inside the house and not outside where she could potentially turn into a popsicle, she ran back inside.

"Hey mom." She strolled back into the kitchen still examining the letter.

"Hmm?"

"Who'd be writing to dad?"

"Your dad got a letter?" She asked in light curiosity.

Parker leaned against the kitchen counter after throwing all the uninteresting mail next to the sink and examined more closely the letter addressed to her father. The lettering on the envelope was thin and neat a little too neat for her taste, but it definitely did not belong to anyone she knew.

"Yep, dad got a letter."

Her mom put down the book which was probably the first time all day she had done so to eye her daughter across the kitchen. She took a moment to watch her daughter. It was only when Parker wasn't paying attention that Mrs. Hales got the chance to ogle at how much she had grown up. She was short for someone to have inherited genes from two relatively tall parents, at eighteen years old, Parker stood just barely over five feet tall. Her height had never bothered her like her mother had thought it would but what she lacked in stature, she made up for in brilliance.

Granted, she didn't have the scientific mind that her father possessed, but she had a real knack for numbers. Parker was the kind of kid who once she got started on something; she was determined to see it through. Mrs. Hales watched the hazel eyes of her daughter focus on the letter in her hands, her brow furrowed in innocent curiosity. She noticed the teen was long over due to repaint her fingernails; the light shade of pink was chipping horrendously. But that was Parker, ever the procrastinator. The girls chocolate colored hair fell past her shoulders in messy curls and her cheeks were rosy from being outside.

Mrs. Hales held much pride for her daughter; she was such a treasure to her life.

"Well bring it here, maybe I know who it's from."

Parker shook her head and looked away from the envelope. "Unless you can identify handwriting I doubt you'll be able to figure it out." Her mother held out her hand despite the comment and Parker crossed the kitchen to drop the letter into her mother's waiting hand. Parker dropped into a chair at the table and rested her chin in her hand as she watched her mom inspect the envelope. After a minute Mrs. Hales dropped the letter onto the table next to the bowl of apples.

"Nope, not a clue who it is," said Mrs. Hales and she went back to her book.

"Can I open it?" Parker perked up at the idea.

The sound of water boiling stopped her from getting an answer. Parker hopped from her chair and rushed back over to the stove and her pot that had water boiling over it. Mrs. Hales looked over the top of her book at her daughter as she turned the fire down on the stove and bustled about with drying up the spilled water and readying the noodles.

"Is it time for new shoes?"

Parker turned to look at her mother, wet dish towel still in hand. "Huh?" She followed her mother's eyes downward to look at her beat up sneakers. The instant reply to come from her mouth was no. It was a constant question to come from her mother, the need for new shoes and it was only because she hated the old pair of pink sneakers that over time collected scrapes, dirt and pen doodles from when she was bored that she kept up with the question persistently.

"No, so what's dad been working on in the basement lately?"

"I don't know," Mrs. Hales said turning a page. "You know how he gets about his projects sometimes."

Parker nodded as she watched her noodles begin to soften in the hot water. That was her dad the ever secret scientist. As much as she loved him, sometimes he drove her crazy with his occasionally compulsive need to work on whatever it was he worked on in the basement. Most of the time he worked on things for his job, he was a scientist at some company whose name she often forgotten. It was important to him, his work and so her mother and her left him to dwell in the basement.

"Oh Lynn's mom wanted her to tell me to tell you that she said to call her tonight. Something about a Hugh Jackman movie marathon coming on television tonight." Parker struggled a bit with opening the jar of tomato sauce but sighed once the audible 'pop' sounded.

"Oh really? I've got to call her," Mrs. Hales stood from her chair and in a bumbled rush left the kitchen, abandoning the book that seconds ago had held her interest.

Pouring the sauce into the other pot, Parker watched as her mom bolted for the phone located somewhere in the house. She didn't get her mother's girlish fascination with the man, but then again it might have had something to do with the fact that she never really went gaga over guys, not the way other girls in school did. She was more of the type who pined from afar. Once her spaghetti was done, she carried it to the table all set to dig in and indulge in dinner and cartoons before having to do homework. Her mom's gabbing cared over the television and she hurriedly snatched up the remote and upped the volume while twisting spaghetti around her fork.

With Mrs. Hales enthralled in her telephone conversation about a beloved actor and Parker captured by cartoons and noodles the letter went forgotten all too easily as it sat idle on the table.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Alright, for me this is the make or break chapter. Kinda nervous here about my portrayal of Griffin, so if you guys would let me know how I'm doing, whether or not I should just hang it up here it would be great. Thanks for the reviews and to those who put me on their watch lists. Only hope that I deserve it. Again, let me know how I'm doing.

Chapter Two

Her alarm went off too late, way too late. So late in fact that it forced her from the comforts of warm blankets and into a frenzied rush. All notions of drifting back into a nice peaceful sleep went out the window when the millions of things she had to do all stampeded through her head. She was most definitely going to be late to school; her mother wouldn't let her leave the house without breakfast, there was homework she'd put off that needed to be done, and the need to walk out the door the least bit presentable were all the current issues of the morning. The bathroom had been one big blur of going through the motions for her and she was pretty sure she'd gotten toothpaste on the lighting fixture.

Parker was pretty sure that the clothes she had on didn't match, but once she tumbled downstairs and into the kitchen she didn't care. Mrs. Hales sat at the kitchen table with her nose stuck in her novel and a cup of coffee before her amongst a mass of paper clutter on the table. The woman didn't seem to take note of the frantic nature of her daughter. She ignored the young girl stumbling around, mumbling about a backpack and turned another page of her book. The mornings were Mrs. Hales' favorite time of day. For her they had always been so calm, so peaceful.

"Mom, I can't find my backpack! I'm gonna be late."

Peaceful until Parker got up.

For a few moments she tried to ignore her daughter moving about as if she were trying to channel the nature of a tornado. It was only when she heard Parker leave from the kitchen and slam things around in the living room did she finally give up hope on the tranquility of the morning returning. Mrs. Hales put her book down with a sigh and stood up.

"Never mind, I found it!" She hurried back to the kitchen and began shoving the papers, presumably her homework, into her backpack with no regards to how it went in.

"I hope you plan on putting something in your stomach before you head out," a warning tone was in Mrs. Hales' voice.

"Can I borrow your car? I'm gonna be late ergo no time to walk and Lynn wants me to come over after school." Parker spoke in a rush as she struggled to zip up her backpack and bypass the topic of breakfast.

Mrs. Hales went over to the cabinet and pulled out a box of pop tarts. It wasn't the best choice for breakfast but Mrs. Hales felt better having Parker eat something rather than nothing. She held out a foiled packet to her daughter. "I don't know why you're rushing around as if its life or death. You're in your senior year and it won't be too long until you're in your cap and gown, relax a little Parker."

"No can do, don't want any blemishes on record mom, you know this." In a huff, she turned towards her mom and accepted the foiled pack that held her breakfast. She ripped it open, knowing that her mom wouldn't be happy unless she physically saw her eating.

"Just like your dad, obsessed in the academics."

"'O cam I bowo─" she swallowed the bite of pop tart she took impatiently. "Can I borrow the car?" In her head the ticks of a clock sounded off.

Mrs. Hales walked back to her book and coffee. "I suppose. Your father has the keys though. Went out last night in a big rush for some cables or something."

Parker groaned and hoped a trip to the basement would be as quick as possible. Her dad tended to strike up conversations and babble on. Not that it bothered her, because it didn't, she found herself too babbling sometimes, but she just didn't have the time for a babble session. Pop tart stuck in her mouth, she trotted in the direction of the basement and then began her descent down the stairs.

"_I'll have what you need tonight."_

"_Two days ago, you said that two bloody days ago."_

"_Corroborations had to be made. I had to run a full diagnostic on the thing. The electricity-" _

"_Do me a favor huh and spare me all the scientific mumbo jumbo, alright? Now are you sure this thing is gonna be ready by tonight? A guy like me has things to do Richie and I don't like making showin__' up here one of 'em."_

Her father was speaking to someone in his laboratory of a basement, but Parker took no notice in her hurried rush. Once her feet hit the floor of the cold basement she began her inquiry, breakfast hanging from her mouth.

"Dad, keys?" This really sounded more like, "Agg ezze?"

Her eyes floated around the computers, cages of white mice, tools sprinkled about and the microscopes. With no sign of the keys she looked to her father for an answer, but the thought of keys froze in her mind when she noticed her father was not alone. Standing next to her lab coat sporting father, was a scruffy looking guy she'd never before seen much less with her father. His hair a sandy brown color appeared untidy, his clothes a gray t-shirt and jeans looked worn and his eyes a standard blue color were staring at her, with what looked like to her a hint of impatience. She felt her stomach flop and instantly snatched the strawberry tart from her mouth.

Mr. Hales looked up from what he was doing and turned to see his daughter standing at the foot of the stairs. He wondered if she knew her sweater was inside out. His eyes traveled from her momentarily stupefied form and then to his young visitor. Hastily, he threw a white sheet over what he had been discussing and working on and turned his attention to his daughter.

"Hey there kid."

Parker blinked and slowly her eyes traveled from the guy to her father. "Hey dad." It came out as more of a question than a cheery greeting.

Knowing that right about then, his daughter's nosy nature was beckoning to her, he decided to squelch it before any questions could sprout forth from her.

"Parker, this here is Griffin…a b-business associate. Griffin, this is my daughter Parker."

She could sense her father's slight discomfort and wondered whether or not there was something going on. The guy, Griffin seemed too young to be in a basement with a grown man who was too wrapped up in his science to remember to breathe at times. Parker couldn't help but look at the guy Griffin. For some reason her curiosity levels were unusually higher than they should be. Her stomach did another flop and she wanted to toss away the pop tart in her hand.

"Charmed," he said offhandedly before turning back to Mr. Hales. "So what time then?"

Parker noticed the accent he had and her stomach did another little flop. At that she frowned trying to remember if the pop tarts had an expiration date. The internal clock in her head started back up, reminding her of what she had to get to. "Sorry to interrupt, but dad I need mom's car keys."

"Over by the tank."

Parker glanced once more at this Griffin character in her father's basement before grabbing up her desired object and running back up the stairs.

Unaware Mr. Hales was that the incredibly brief introduction between Griffin and Parker would not be the last encounter they would have with each other.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Again, a big thank you to everyone reading this. I'm completely honored. This chapter only serves to show just how normal and average my character's life is. The next chapter will be posted in the next couple days.

Chapter Three

_Some boys take a beautiful girl, and hide her away from the rest of the world._

_I wanna be the one to walk in the sun. Oh girls, they wanna have fu-un._

_Oh girls, just wanna have. That's all they really want…_

Usually popping in her Cyndi Lauper cd before school brightened up her morning blues, but today she found that she had a hard time hearing the music. Parker's curiosity was screaming at her as she drove to school. It was unusual for her father to have someone in the basement. It was his haven and he rarely tolerated her and her mom down there. Something wasn't right and she couldn't put her finger on it.

It had something to do with Griffin. To her, he hadn't seemed too sound and there was something sketchy about him. What it was, she didn't know. It all just seemed…hinky to her. Parker recalled the blue eyes that had stared at her with real disinterest and her stomach did another flop.

Her small hands gripped the steering wheel more tightly. Trying to put the happenings of that morning behind her, she gave her head a shake and forced herself to listen more to the music. Meeting her father's business associate hadn't been a big deal. So what he couldn't be any older than her, so what he was a bit rough around the edges. It hadn't meant that the two of them were doing anything wrong.

"For-for all I know he could be some young genius w-with a chip on his shoulder," she mumbled in efforts to convince herself that nothing unusual was happening beneath the ground floor in the house she lived in. Her father was an obsessive scientist and nothing more.

_When the working day is done. _

_Oh when the working day is done, girls just wanna have fun._

As she pulled into an available parking spot at Oakridge High home of the Muskrats she tried convincing herself that she no longer cared about the guy in the basement. Parker turned off the car, snagged up her backpack, and opened the car door. The cold hit her like a slap and she was very much tempted to hop back into the warmth of the car. The reminder in the form of the late bell told her why she couldn't and she jogged towards the entrance. With a quick twist of her combination into her lock, her locker was thrown open and she quickly deposited her coat, hat, scarf and mittens.

The trot to Parker's first period consisted of dodging around fellow tardy students and trying to wish herself invisible from lurking teachers and hall monitors. She slipped inside her classroom and tried easing to the back of the room. A red haired girl looked at her with wide eyes and mouthed 'hurry up'. Parker stared back with an aggravated expression. She spied an empty seat and attempted to ease herself into it unnoticed but it seemed that luck wasn't on her side.

"Miss Hales, late again."

Mr. Erickson's haughty voice made her freeze with a sigh.

Busted.

"I don't need to remind you Miss Hales that this is Honors Math, meaning it is a privilege to be here. Don't make us reconsider your placement."

Parker dropped her backpack beside her chair and rolled her eyes at Mr. Erickson's back as he scribbled the days' lesson on the board. She wanted to mention the fact that she got the top grades in his class and her being a little late now and then wasn't a big deal. Well, it shouldn't have been a big deal. Parker glared at his back before realizing that everyone around her had binders and math books open. Reaching down and picking her math book from her backpack she prayed that the day would go by fast.

"And can you believe Roger, the little jerk that he is flipped me off?" The red haired girl present in Parker's math class slid her lunch tray beside an irritated Parker in the lunch line. She took no notice that Parker hadn't been paying her much attention as she gabbed away. Parker slid her lunch tray past the questionable looking noodle casserole, the mixed vegetables and straight for the desert.

"I swear I hate Roger more and more everyday," the red head fumed. "You'd think boys got more mature once they got older, you know?" The red head expecting an answer back glanced at Parker. "Are you even listening to me?"

Parker picked up a plate of chocolate cake and made her way to their usual table.

"Parker, you listening?"

"Huh?"

The two slid into seats and Parker immediately took the plastic off her fork.

"What's wrong with you? It's like you're a million miles away today."

Parker poked at her cake, "Lynn, I'm sorry. I just─ I don't know…"

"It's not Mr. Erickson is it? Because everybody knows he's a complete douche."

Parker shook her head. "It's not Mr. Erickson. I'm just a little off today I guess."

Lynn opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud slam of books on the table. The two girls need not look up to see the cause of the interruption.

"What's your deal, Bobby?"

A boy, tall and lanky with slicked back hair sat down in a huff. "Got a D minus on my government test. My dad is gonna roast me alive."

"Well maybe you shoulda tried studying for it instead of trying to get Rachel Laurence's digits," Parker said forking up a piece of cake. "Just from observation you," Parker paused to chew. "Going with a girl like that is impossible. You have to look at the variables against you. She's the objection of just about every guy in school, super hot by most standards, and head of the 'pom pom squad'," Parker air quoted. "Now with-with all these factors in hand and your collective knowledge of just about every eighties movie, you should know that you stand─"

Lynn put a hand on Parker's arm, "Too much Park, take a breath."

Bobby scowled at her but didn't say anything.

Lynn shook her head returning to Bobby. "You're pathetic. When are you going to realize that a girl like that is way out of your league?"

Parker took a moment to scan the cafeteria and spotted said Rachel Laurence. Blonde hair, green eyed and currently sitting amongst the jocks of Oakridge high was the girl of her friend's obsession. Parker shook her head and turned back to her two friends.

"I don't know why I hang out with you two," Bobby groaned.

"Because," Lynn said as if the answer were the easiest thing in the world. "We're good for keeping you in line."

Bobby rolled his eyes and knocked his head against the table. Parker pushed away her cake, it seemed unappealing to her. Lynn took a look at her two friends and shook her head. Neither of them were themselves, one pining over a girl, the other on another planet. It simply couldn't be left be.

"We're going out tonight," said Lynn.

Parker looked up from her plate. "What?"

"I mean we're going to Harry's tonight."

Harry's was a 1950s styled restaurant that the three friends often hung out at. Why it appealed to them so much, they didn't know. Bobby had grown accustomed to the suspenders and poodle skirted uniforms, Lynn loved the fries and Parker admired the fact that the bathrooms were clean and so Harry's had become a staple in their lives.

"Can't," Bobby shook his head. "With this D looming over my head I'd be no good to anybody."

Lynn waved a hand at him. "You're barely any good to us now."

"I'm in," Parker said building up a smile. She needed something to take her mind off of the blue eyed guy in the basement.

"Good," Lynn said with a nod. "Guess we'll just have to drag Bobby along."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **As promised a chapter in a couple of days is before you. Reviews would be lovely, seeing as this is the first lengthy interaction between Parker and Griffin. Any mistakes found deserve an apology as I went over this with a zombie state of mind.

Chapter Four

The last bell of the day had Parker smiling with relief. The promise of hot chicken fingers and a strawberry milkshake sounded so perfect that she practically floated down the hall. She deposited all unnecessary school books into her locker, dawned on her fall outer gear and shouldered her backpack. Bobby and Lynn were meeting her by her mom's car ten minutes after the last bell. Not wanting to be late or waste any time, she skipped along the halls.

A vibration kicked off in her pocket making her skid to a stop. Parker dug around in her jeans and pulled out her cell phone. The tiny screen revealed to her that her mom was calling, not unusual but not particularly wanted when she was trying to race to Harry's for milkshake heaven.

"Hey mom," she answered.

"Parker get home right now!"

Instantly her heart thundered in her chest. She couldn't recall doing anything wrong. And she hadn't doodled mathematical equations on her mother's vanity mirror in ages.

"What's wrong?"

"Your-Your father is in─ I don't know, he's running around the house talking crazy. He says to come straight home."

"What? What's happening?"

"You're father says we have to leave Parker."

Before she could ask any more questions the line went dead. Parker pocketed her phone and broke into a run towards the parking lot. Lynn and Bobby stood by the car talking. She gave them a mumbled, barely comprehensible apology, explaining to them a family emergency before climbing into the car.

"God, Parker, is everything alright," Lynn asked with pure concern.

"I dunno," Parker answered before jamming the key in the ignition and taking off.

It was a wonder that she hadn't gotten pulled over by the police as she sped towards her house. Her normally over cautious driving had flown from the window as her head replayed the phone call from her mom. She whipped into the driveway and barely remembered to turn the car off. She ran up the walkway, and through the front door. Her feet came to a stop as she surveyed the mess around her.

Half the books from the bookshelf were littered on the floor, the pillows from the couch were thrown about, pictures that had been hanging neatly symmetrical were crooked and the potted geranium her mother took pride in was on the floor, the dirt from the pot scattered over the rug. Dropping her backpack where she stood, she took a further step into the house.

"Mom? Dad?" She called. Her eyes swiveled around the mess. A frightening feeling was beginning to take over.

"Mom! Dad!"

Her father emerged from the kitchen with her mother in tow.

"What's going on? Why is the house a mess?"

"Don't do this Richie." She heard her mother whisper. "There's got to be some other way." Mrs. Hales grasped onto the arm of her husband to stop his advancing.

Parker noticed that her father was eerily quiet as he walked to her. Something wasn't right. "Dad?" He was clenching something in his hand.

"Sorry kiddo this is for a cause good and bigger than any of us."

She felt a cloth clamp itself over her nose and mouth with her father's strength holding it in place. She struggled against him but felt her strength and consciousness slip away quickly. The last thing she recalled was the sound of her mother crying.

Her head hurt and there was an ache in her left shoulder. At the current moment her world was dark and her skin a little chilled. Parker tested out moving her fingers, when they complied she brought her hand to the back of her head. She felt like crap and that was an understatement. Opening her eyes, she took a breath and realized she was staring at the familiar pattern set to the living room couch.

She was lying on her stomach, no longer dressed in the sweater she'd worn that morning. Instead she was clothed in a loose sweatshirt that she was sure belonged to her father. Gingerly she sat up, feeling the soreness in her shoulder a little more. Disoriented, she looked around the living room and the same destruction she had seen before greeting her. Whathappened all came rushing back to her in a flurry of memory.

_The phone call, rushing home, the discovery of a trashed living room and her father…oh god, her father rendering her unconscious. _

Just then, her mother walked through caring a suitcase she recalled as her own, the teddy bear sticker on it a dead give away. Her mother spotting her awake rushed over, dropped the suitcase and engulfed her into a tight hug. For a moment Parker couldn't speak, her mouth felt dry.

"Come on, we're just about ready to go. Your father says, he says we have to be fast."

"What's going on? What'd dad do to me?"

"Parker, enough with the questions. We've got to go!"

Parker pulled away from her mother, the frown on her face was prominent. "Where's dad?"

As if the heavens wanted for her to find out she heard loud voices coming from below. "He's downstairs isn't he?"

"Parker please," Mrs. Hales begged. "Just come get in the car with me."

She ignored her mother and turned in the direction of the basement. No one was telling her anything and after being unconscious she felt like she deserved some sort of an explanation. What was going on was crazy and nothing was making sense to her. Her mother's insistent begging was put behind her as she clamored down the steps to the basement, her sneakers not worried about doing the job of being quiet.

"Grayson said they're on their way. Take whatever you think might help you. I just gotta get away from here." Her father's worry laced voice was loud and clear.

"They've found you out, pity." The voice from that morning was back.

Not caring, she marched right in to find the basement as distressed as the living room had been. "Dad, what's going on?"

Mr. Hales seemed unfazed by his daughter's appearance. "Parker, upstairs now!"

"No, not until you tell me why I ended up taking a nap on the couch against my will."

"I'm not fooling around Parker. Get yourself upstairs."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm not fooling around either!"

"Wow, insistent bird you've got, but could you get her to run along faster?"

Parker, just about to turn her furious stare towards the guy who she met that morning, heard a crash and a scream emitting from above. The sound of people, a number of people came from upstairs and none of them sounded docile. The sound of her mother's scream made Parker jump, her eyes growing wide.

"Sounds like the calvary have arrived," Griffin commented.

"Dad, what's g-going on?" Parker was having trouble keeping the terror out of her voice.

"Well," Griffin interjected. "I'm off. Sorry things went pear-shaped." He strolled easily over towards a tubular object that had formerly been covered with a white sheet. He picked it up, ignoring the yells from upstairs.

"Dad?"

Mr. Hales looked into the watery eyes of his daughter and without hesitation turned towards Griffin. "Take her with you."

Griffin stopped with gathering the object. "Sorry?"

"You've got to take her with you. She's got something that's highly sensitive to their organization."

More confusion hit Parker, but she pushed it aside in favor of what was going on upstairs. Her mother was up there.

"In the right hands it could bring them down."

A doubtful look was on Griffin's face.

A bang sounded near to them. It was the sound of the basement door being thrown against the wall. Parker jumped but that was the only response she had time to give because her father was taking her tightly by the arm.

"I didn't want to pull this card, but you owe me!"

The pounding of footsteps descending the stairs sounded. "Mr. Hales, we know you're down there!" A deep voice boomed. "Didn't take you for a trader Richard."

"Dad─"

"Take her, keep her safe and I promise you I'll send for her." Mr. Hales pushed Parker towards Griffin, his eyes locked and pleading with the young man. "They get her and everything that we've worked on goes down the tube."

Parker looked to see Griffin glaring at her father, but the minute the basement was swarmed with uniformed people, each toting guns and pointing them around, Griffin gave her father an almost undetectable nod. He transferred the object from one hand to the other, grabbed her arm and before she knew it the scene of men pointing guns in the basement disappeared from her view. All of a sudden the hustle and bustle of a city surrounded her and she felt Griffin release her arm. Parker spun around wildly growing more confused by the second. People walked about on the streets, all knowing their targeted destinations, all walking with a purpose past her perplexed form.

Looking around she spotted business and street signs, banners and billboards, none of them were the least bit comprehensible to her. They all seemed to be in Chinese or something akin to it. How in the world had she ended up in the middle of the busy streets of some foreign land? How was it the least bit possible? Feeling a torrent of emotions coming on all of which lead her to wanting to burst out in tears, she spun around.

The busy atmosphere was taken away from her attention by the sound of snapping fingers. Parker's eyes quickly darted to Griffin, who looked absolutely unperturbed with the fact that they were in the midst of another country's rush hour. His facial expression gave away impatience. Parker ignored that fact to get all the questions in her head in order.

"Since I'm playing babysitter to you, will you do me a favor sweetheart and keep up? Yeah?" He turned around and began walking, not bothering to see whether or not she was following.

People bumped into her, not really taking the time to apologize or acknowledge her presence. Normally Parker would've been highly irritated, but her legs striding forward in an effort to catch up with the mysterious Griffin told of her total lack of caring for the rude strangers. Once she caught up with him she dared to try and ask one of the million questions going through her mind.

"H-how did we get here?"

"How do you think?"

Parker frowned, "That's not an answer."

"And I'm aware of that."

"Look, I don't know you all that well, or at all really, but─"

Griffin took a sharp turn to the right and led them down a shadowy deserted alley. Shivers ran down her back and nervousness settled itself into the pit of her stomach. Before she could ask why they were standing in an alley, Griffin took her arm again and the breath left her. The scenery of the alley changed in an instant and she now stood in the middle of what looked to be a bunker. It was the thought that came immediately to mind.

There were drawings, sketches posted all over the walls along with other things like small notes, and maps. Video tapes if they weren't in crates or on shelves were strewn over the floor. There was a desk with not one but three computers set up, its monitors all displaying information that consisted of lines and numbers. Above the small work station were six clocks, each displaying different time zones around the world. Clothes were scattered here and there, a large supply of water, cases of soda, and multiple cd racks were all placed in various spots.

It was an organized mess.

"How do- how do we keep…" the question she wanted to ask didn't know how to come out. Griffin listened to her stumbling words with a smirk of slight amusement. The object he'd been holding so tightly onto, a semi- long rod, he placed on a table with the available space. He continued to let Parker stutter along as he walked over towards where a television and video game system was set up and dropped himself into a chair. The video game he'd had on pause was waiting for him as he took up a controller.

Parker could feel the tears building up as her mouth moved without the consent of her brain. She watched Griffin as he moved towards the television and wished that he would understand her. It was hard enough for her as it was. The sound of her mother's screams was still echoing through her ears. Nothing was making any sense and she could draw no conclusions based on what was happening.

Sick of hearing her rambling Griffin interjected. "I'm a jumper, okay. That's how we got to Tokyo and that's how we got here."

Parker instantly shut her mouth when she heard his voice. The explanation though, it didn't make any sense to her. Griffin said he was a jumper like everything was supposed to click together for her, but it didn't. In fact, it just gave her one more question to ask.

"I-I-I don't understand."

"Since," Griffin said, his tone somewhat edgy. "It seems like daddy dearest neglected to tell you, it looks like I'll be filling you in."

Parker walked over to Griffin who still seemed engrossed in his video game and gingerly sat on the small couch situated across from his chair.

"Jumpers are people who can go anywhere in the world just by thinkin' it."

Griffin explained to her about jumpers and Paladins. He did so without blinking away from his video game. As Parker listened she didn't interrupt, partially because she wanted to hear what came next and she couldn't believe her ears. People who could teleport themselves anywhere they wanted? It sounded like something right out of the comics.

She almost didn't believe it but it made sense since she was living it. To go from being at home in the basement staring down the barrel of many guns, to being on the sidewalks of busy Tokyo and then finally to where she was currently seated was more than enough proof for her. At the moment it was either believe it or settle with the possibility that she was still unconscious on the living room couch. Parker stared at Griffin as he finished telling her about this battle going on between jumpers and Paladins. She wrung her fingers together in her lap.

When he finished explaining silence grew between them. The sound of simulated war from the video game was the only noise to be heard.

"What does this have to do with my dad?"

"Haven't you put it together yet? For a scientist's daughter you sure seem a bit dozy."

Despite his unfamiliar jargon, Parker knew when she was being insulted. She frowned. "Just tell me what I need to know!" She was done being in the dark. Anger and frustration was beginning to take over.

"Alright sweetheart, no need to get the panties in a twist," Griffin said as he jabbed buttons on his controller with more force than before. "Your father is an inside man for us jumpers. Pretends to work for Paladins. It's why they stormed your house."

Parker brought a hand to her mouth to stifle the gasp. Her father was helping jumpers. That's why Griffin had been in her basement, her father was helping him.

"That was why you were in the basement with my dad," Parker voiced her thoughts. "He was helping you?"

"Granted, I didn't need it. I just heard that he got his hands on a new weapon that was being worked on."

Parker remembered the thing that had been under the white sheet in the basement, she remembered Griffin holding onto it as they walked through Tokyo and she recalled him setting it down on a table. She stood up and walked over to where she remembered it was. Her sudden movement caused Griffin to look up from his game. "What'd you think you're doing?" He leapt up from his chair, throwing down his controller just as Parker picked up the rod like object.

Parker brought the black and silver rod up to her face examining it. She paid no mind to Griffin as she thought about what was suppose to be so special about something that looked similar to a night stick. Griffin snatched the object from her. An 'are you stupid' look was on his face.

"You can't just go grabbing stuff around here." He slammed the rod back down on the table and glared at her. "But what you can do is sit down and keep quiet until things get sorted."

"I can't do that," Parker almost growled as Griffin turned his back to her, making his way towards his game. She forgot about the rod and followed behind him. His haughty attitude was beginning to get on her nerves. "I can't sit here and do nothing. My parents are in trouble. You gotta take me back."

"Take you back?!" Griffin whirled around to face her, his patience for the girl just about up. "And what exactly do you plan on doing?"

The question left her speechless because, truth be told she had no idea what she was going to do. She just knew that she couldn't sit back and do absolutely nothing. Her parents were all that she had and they were in danger, it was all that she needed to know.

"That's what I thought," said Griffin as he turned back and settled into his seat. He looked at her, expecting her to drop herself onto the couch like he had said but Parker stood rooted to the spot. Her mind searched for something _anything _that resembled a plan. Her shoulder twinged with soreness and absentmindedly she rubbed at the spot.

"I need to at least try," she begged at one last attempt.

Griffin blew out a puff of air and recollected his controller, resuming his game.

"What if it were your parents," Parker asked taking a step towards him.

Apparently, she hit a raw nerve because Griffin tossed his controller and was standing in front of her so fast she had barely enough time to blink.

"You don't seem to understand just how dangerous this entire thing is. Your parents, if they're still alive, are probably being tortured right now and if I just waltz in without a _bloody_ plan then we're as good as dead. Do you hear me?"

Parker took to looking at the floor. She didn't want the tears that finally fell from her eyes to be seen. He was right. According to everything he'd told her, busting in would be the wrong thing to do. Parker lifted a hand and wiped her eyes, willing the wetness to just go away. What she needed was a plan, a plan that would get her to her parents. Crying wasn't going to help any.

"_They get her and every thing we've worked on goes down the tubes."_

She felt Griffin finally move away from her, but was too far lost in her thoughts to really realize this. The insistent words her father had said to Griffin whirled about her head, almost taunting her. Caught up in them, the confusion stifled her tears and the analytical mind that she possessed stirred up its gears. Parker lifted her head and saw Griffin sorting through a collection of video game cases. The anger he had hurled at her was apparently gone.

Parker looked at Griffin with heavy lids. Naturally, he seemed like an angered person and not in a million years would she have subjected herself to his presence, but right now she was stuck. The only person she could turn to seemed more interested in playing games than paying her any mind. A complete and total stranger was Griffin to her and her father trusted him enough to give her up to him. Nothing was right about the situation, but Parker was quickly planning on not being in the present mess for long.

"What did my dad mean by if they get me every thing goes down the tubes?" Parker was glad to find her voice steady despite the tears that had fallen from her eyes not too long ago.

"Sorry sweetheart, I don't have all the answers."

"Well then you'll just have to help me to find some then," Parker crossed her arms.

"I will, will I? Griffin nodded a slight smirk on his face as he continued to go through his video game cases.

Parker mimicked his expression. "Yes you will."

"Oh yeah?"

Parker nodded more. "Yeah."

"I've got some bad news for you sweetheart," Griffin tossed aside a case.

"What?"

"You're wrong. I'm not helping you. I've got too much shit on my plate as it is without adding you to it." Griffin tossed the remaining cases on the floor, unable to make a decision and abandoned the video games all together. He strode past her to sit down in front of his group of computers. Typing something into the computer at a rapid speed, he muttered loud enough for Parker to hear, "You're not even supposed to be here."

"That's the thing," Parker started, dropping her arms to her side. Her shoulder gave a spark of discomfort. "You are helping me by helping my dad─"

"The only reason you're here is cuz I owed your old man ─" Griffin interrupt.

"Okay so you owed my dad, but how long do you expect for me to be here? What if you never hear from my dad? What'll you do then?" It hurt to even fathom something like that and Parker chocked back the onslaught of fresh tears that wanted to come. She swept a hand through her curly hair and continued looking at the back of Griffin's form.

When he didn't say anything, she chanced moving closer to him. "All I'm saying is the faster you help me the faster I'll be out of your hair and as far away from…" Parker looked around at her surroundings. "As far away from here, wherever here is."

Settling her eyes back to Griffin, she noticed his fingers had stilled on the keyboard and his jaw was clenched as his eyes stared at the ceiling. This had to mean that he was considering her words. There was a bubbling in her stomach that she willed to calm down. Seconds past, then minutes and Parker was afraid she'd never get an answer out of him. She kept quiet, worried that she ruin any progress she had made with him.

"Lair," he spoke breaking the silence.

Parker's face screwed up in confusion. "Huh?"

"Wherever here is, is my lair."

"Oooookay," Parker said.

"You have to do what I tell you, when I tell you. I'm not getting myself killed over you, got it?"

Parker struggled with holding back her smile. "Alright, yeah, sure."

Griffin turned from his computers and looked at Parker, "Before we go busting in like a couple of dafties, we need to figure some things out."

Parker nodded. A small portion of the heaviness on her chest was lifted. "So you're really going to help me?"

"It's more like helping myself," Griffin replied.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** This chapter is more or less to hold everyone over for the next chapter which is a biggie. The wait won't be long. Promise. And again, thank you for all the supporting reviews. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hella nervous posting this.

Chapter Five

The Network.

The group that was leaking information from the Paladins was called the Network and her father had a part in it all. Unknown to her, Richard had been a scientist for the Paladins, creating weapons and gadgets set to their needs for hunting jumpers. Finding this out was a complete shock to Parker, but it was a shock that had to be quickly overcome. Her father had not one bone in his body that would do harm to others, no matter what differences people possessed and this fact that Parker knew, settled right with what Griffin had told her. Her father was working as an inside man, leaking out information to those in need. Never had she thought her dad would have the guts to do anything like what he had done, but he'd been in over his head.

Richard had been in _way_ over his head and Parker was dead set on getting him out of this mess.

Parker, currently seated on Griffin's couch tapping her foot against the floor, watched as Griffin paced the constraints of his underground hideout. For the past two hours they'd gone over what could possibly be done to free her parents from their situation. So far, neither of them had come up with anything that would guarantee an outcome where they'd come out alive. When Paladins so much as smelled a trader they brought in anyone who could be spared for the questioning. Griffin told her that it'd be the perfect opportunity to "Take out the lot of 'em'" but Parker was all too quick to point out that it would mean killing her parents and then end of story, she wouldn't let it happen, it'd defeat the purpose, at least hers.

She wondered whether or not Griffin really cared. Parker knew his only true motivation for helping her was to get rid of her, but she couldn't help the curiosity that spurred about. Maybe there was the tiniest bit of him that wanted to help for other reasons. Reasons that had involved her father helping him, after all he had said that he owed her dad. Maybe her father had helped him more than he let on, maybe much more.

"Parker, you at all listening?"

The girl snapped from her thoughts to see that Griffin had stopped his pacing and was now looking at her expectantly.

Forcing her foot to still she shook her head. "No sorry."

"Figures," he said. "This is for you're benefit and you're not even listening."

Parker frowned, having had just enough of Griffin. With the things on her plate she didn't have the will to deal with someone harboring a rotten attitude. "Like you're not getting something from this either," she snapped.

"Oh really then? What exactly am I gaining from this small endeavor besides my lair back free of you?"

Parker was quiet for a second, her brow furrowed in anger.

"No answer then? Shocking," Griffin said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"What is your problem?!" Parker barked. "I'm the one whose parents got caught up in your mess!"

"My mess?" Griffin sneered. "My _mess_?"

Parker nodded. "Yes you're mess. Y-you and people like you who─"

"Who-Who what? Are born like this? Who don't ask to be hunted down like fucking animals?"

Parker kept the frown on her face but shut her mouth as Griffin starred her down. The realization set in that Griffin hadn't been living underground in his christened lair just for kicks. Parker didn't break her hazel eyes away from Griffin's steely glare even though she felt there was nothing she could say to him.

"You're dad knew just what the consequences to this were, sweetheart," he spoke and his voice lowered.

Griffin walked away from her and she could hear him shuffling things about in the distance. Parker folded her arms over herself in a protective manner and resumed the tapping of her foot. He came back a moment later holding a pen and a scrap sheet of paper.

"Here," he held out the items towards her.

Taking them warily, she looked at him, "What're these for."

"Pen, paper, generally used for," he mimed moving a writing utensil in the air. "Writing things down."

Parker rolled her eyes. "I know that. But what am I writing?"

"Had you been paying me the least bit mind, you'd know you weren't writing anything." Griffin moved away from her and towards a messy shelf.

"But you just said─" Parker started, highly annoyed.

"I know what I said. I'm not stupid you know," Griffin crossed his arms and leaned against a wall across from Parker. "Not forgetful either," he added as an after note.

Parker sighed and reigned in the glare she wanted to send his way. "So what am I supposed to be doing?"

"Drawing."

"Drawing? Drawing what exactly?" Parker moved on the edge of the couch and made to make room on the rather large trunk, serving as a makeshift coffee table. She pushed aside comic books and empty soda cans and laid the paper flat on the cleared surface.

"Your room, in exact detail." At her confused look, he rolled his eyes. "Safest place to go in has got to be your room. I don't think they'll post anyone in there to rip it apart and we might gain the advantage."

Parker still was confused. "Why do you need me to draw my room though? Can't you just…" Parker waved a hand in the air.

"I can't jump somewhere I've never seen," Griffin put it simply. "And I've never been in your room, have I?"

"Oh," Parker nodded and bent her head, picking up the pen and beginning to sketch the inside of her room just how she left it before she went off to school that morning. She had no idea how this jumping thing worked, but since it was Griffin's expertise, she took his word for it. It was all too strange for her anyway to create her own notions about people being able to teleport anyway. Decidedly, if the urge came to freak out, she'd put it off for later.

Parker doodled whenever she was bored. Sometimes they were cute─ or at least she thought they were cute─ little bunnies that she doodled, sometimes they were hearts and stars or little stick figures with pigtails for the girls and spiky hair for the boys. Point being she drew but she was far away, _very _far away from being an artist. She tried the best she could to draw the twin bed that was in the corner of her room, the hoodie she knew she'd left lying in the middle of the floor, her dresser in another corner, the closet doors next to the bed, her desk, the microscope her father had given her on her fifth birthday…

"You don't have to put in all you're My Little Pony posters."

Parker looked up from her drawing with a frown. "For your information, I got rid of those years ago."

Smirking, Griffin leaned forward and tugged the paper from beneath her hand. "All I need to know is whether or not there's a wall in the middle of the room, not if you've got an obsession with stuffed animals." He scanned the drawing as Parker stood.

She watched as Griffin squinted at her drawing and then proceeded to turn it upside down. "Draws like a bloody four year old," she thought she heard him mutter but couldn't be sure. He flung the paper behind him and looked at Parker, a firm look directed at her.

"Are you ready?"

The queasy feeling was back again in her stomach, reeking havoc on her ability to talk. What choice did she have? Sitting there on some guy's couch when god knows what was happening to her parents didn't seem like a very viable choice, not for her. Doing so would eat her alive and she was never one to sit idle when things could be possibly worked out. As bravely as she could she nodded her head.

This was for her parents. She was doing this for them, the people who had loved and cared for her for the past eighteen years of her life. She was only doing what they would've done for her and that was everything they could. Parker started forward toward Griffin, her valiant mood slipping off somewhere unreachable, but by the time Griffin clasped a hand over her shoulder it was too late to realize it.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **I want to thank the last three readers for taking the time out to review _PoPCoRn, Toxic-Neon, and secret-mystery,_ means a lot. I'm happy with each and every review I get, even if the amount is not as high as expected. I'm a little nervous for this chapter, so let me know how it went.

Chapter Six

In a whoosh of air they were standing in the middle of her bedroom. Her heart thundered in her chest as she stood in the darkness of the all too still room belonging to her. Parker's feet felt like they were rooted to the floor. Her heart thudded twice as fast as its normal rate. For whatever reason her home didn't feel like home and for a split second she wondered if she was in the right room, the right house.

If it wasn't for seeing the periodic table of elements hung up next to the poster of Colin Ferrell dimly lit by outside light, she would've thought they were in a different place. Griffin slunk passed a pile of unmentionable clothing she'd been meaning to put away and towards the closed door. In any other instance she would have been mortified, but now she was right behind him, straining her ears to see if she could hear any activity coming from downstairs. Griffin looked behind himself and held his finger to his lips. Steadily his hand gripped the door knob and with intensely deliberate slowness he pulled open the door.

A voice clear as day floated from the staircase and to their receptive ears. Parker moved past Griffin to slink through the small slit in the door, but before she could Griffin caught the sleeve of her sweatshirt. She glared at him mouthing a 'what'.

"What?" Griffin whispered back harshly. "You're gonna get us caught!"

"Guess what, we're going to have to leave my room at some point," Parker quietly snapped.

She was scared and thoroughly so. She hadn't been scared in her room since she was five and afraid of the monster underneath the bed. The need to find out what was going on downstairs was what led her to push it aside for the moment being.

"What did I say to you?" Griffin's low voice was hard.

"Don't talk to me like-like I'm friggin five," Parker spat out.

"No, what did I say to you?"

"I don't care about what you said─" Parker said at the same time Griffin posed his insistent question.

"I said," Griffin snarled. "Do what I tell you when I tell you and right now I'm telling you to stay put."

Parker pulled away from Griffin and leaned against the door frame. She stared him down, wishing he would tell her some inkling of a plan. Now that she was still, the fear was creeping up and growing like a monster. Griffin's attention was no longer on her. He was looking out of the slit and into the hall, the hall light spilling into her darkened room.

The voice continued talking on and Parker could tell that Griffin was struggling to hear what was being said. Minutes past and Griffin made no move on doing anything, making Parker all the more impatient.

"Maybe we should call the police," Parker thought aloud.

The suggestion floated to Griffin's ears and at it he couldn't help the grin that crossed his face. "Coppers won't help us in this situation, sweetheart. They'll only bugger up things."

Parker looked at him warily. He was probably right. There wasn't a police officer out there that would believe a secret organization was holding her father because he leaked out secrets to people who could teleport anywhere in the world. She half way didn't believe it. Hell, these Paladins probably had the police fooled themselves.

"Besides, Paladins have cops wrapped around their fingers." Griffin confirmed what she was thinking.

Parker was two seconds away from asking what exactly they were going to do when a very loud and very familiar voice reached her ears.

"_Come on Richard,"_ the familiar voice taunted. _"Say something!"_

Her brow wrinkled in confusion as she analyzed the familiarity of the voice and connected it to who she was dead sure it belonged to.

Parker was unaware of the swear that escaped Griffin at the start of the new voice, she was too focused on the deep tone she heard from below.

"I think it's safe to say the hall is clear."

"Mr. Cox," Parker whispered. Her eyes widened with realization. Never did she think he'd be involved in this. A lump formed in her throat and her mouth went dry.

"_J-just let tell them what they want to know!"_

Her mother's voice had her moving for the door, but Griffin once again stopped her progress by pulling on the back of her shirt.

"Mr. Cox," he said looking into her face. "As in Roland Cox? You know him?"

Parker didn't answer. Her focus was on the desperate plea her mom had given. She was okay, for the time being but who knew for how much longer?

"Parker! Parker, hey, can we focus here?"

Parker snapped away from her mind and paid attention to Griffin for the moment being. "We came here without a _plan_," she whispered quickly, holding back the fear that threatened to leave her crumpled.

"Not anymore we don't have a plan," said Griffin.

Parker questioned whether or not it was thrill she saw shinning in Griffin's blue eyes.

"What's the plan?" She was afraid to ask.

Griffin straightened, opened the door fully and before walking out into the hall said, "Take out as many as possible."

Parker, hot on Griffin's heels felt her stomach drop out from under her. Although she'd wanted to hear a plan, it wasn't the kind of plan she'd been hoping to hear. Then again, looking at Griffin, he didn't seem like the passive type. Parker thought along the lines of sneaking about and just getting Griffin to work his mojo. How she was going to do any sneaking with an unknown amount of the enemy in her house, she didn't know.

Griffin took out something shiny from one of his belt loops and Parker recognized it as a knife. It was small and following its curve to the sharp point almost scared her. It meant just what she knew was going to happen tonight. It meant just the thing that needed to be done to get her parents back. Without a moment to wonder on what exactly Griffin was going to do with the unsheathed knife, she watched him disappear from her view.

Not used to seeing him disappear, Parker jumped back in a slightly jerky motion.

"_We know what you've been doing and what you're into."_

There was the voice of Mr. Cox again. Parker leaned against the railing of the stairs and cautiously looked down. The staircase didn't lead directly to the living room; there was a short hallway that needed to be walked through first. At the very bottom of the stairs stood a man in a slick black suit with his hands folded in front of him. Obviously, he was the look out for any and all unwanted, unexpected activity. Griffin appeared a few feet away from the man undetected. Parker watched as he took the knife and slid it effortlessly into the man's back.

If the reality of the situation hadn't sunken in before, it sure had then.

Her stomach reeled at the sight before her, but she ignored it and reminded herself that there couldn't be any sympathy felt for anyone who'd invaded her home and turned the comforting atmosphere into something dealing in violence and danger. Biting her lip hard, she forced her feet to walk down the stairs quietly, avoiding the fifth stair with the knowing creak. Parker side stepped the body currently bleeding onto the hard wood floors with a noticeable grimace and joined Griffin's side.

"Whatever you do, try not to get in the way."

Parker didn't acknowledge Griffin, the thudding in her heart too loud for her to hear anything else. The voices now were whispered, barely audible, but every now and then things slipped.

"_We know you had __one of them down there!"_

Pushing past fear, Parker turned watery eyes towards Griffin. The steps they were taking down the hall seemed all too fast and the end of it seemed to be coming all too quickly.

"Taking out as many as possible isn't a good plan," she muttered both lowly and quickly. "There are things about-about the situation you don't know. Like how many of these Paladins are in my living room or-or whether or not they've all got weapons."

"Oh they've got weapons," Griffin whispered back. "Loads of 'em."

Parker continued on with her rushed whispers. "Point being we don't know what we're walking into."

Griffin stopped walking and turned to her. "I know! I know! Ya never really _know_ what you're walking into when it comes to them," Griffin pointed in front of them indicating the Paladins currently in the family living room. "You're the one who wanted to come here, play the hero, not me."

"But you agreed," Parker reminded.

"Don't remind me. I don't need you to."

"All I mean was that we should be more prepared than this."

"Look, you wanna save your parents or not?"

Parker opened her mouth but no reply was able to get out on an account of the interruption in the form of a dark attired person.

"Hey Patterson, Donovan wants you up front. Cox is riding his ass about seizing anything in the basement that can be useful." It was a woman who'd entered the hall and she wasn't paying attention the least bit. Her head was down, eyes staring at the illuminated screen of her cell phone as she walked. She'd assumed that everything was as it should've been with this Patterson fellow, but indeed it was not. Patterson's body was behind the two unseen young adults, loosing a substantial amount of blood and well on his way to death, if he in fact wasn't already there.

What felt like an excruciating eternity to Parker was only a few seconds. Like a deer caught in head lights, she could only stand there stupefied, waiting for a shoe of some sort to drop. When the women finally looked up from her cell phone, her eyes darted straight to the two of them and then to the body on the floor. In a flurry of motion, the woman dropped her phone and pulled the 9mm that was at her waist.

"Got one in here," she yelled out.

"There goes the element of surprise," Griffin said with a bleak cheeriness. Before Parker could even think to react, Griffin had disappeared from her side and reappeared to the right of the gun wielding woman. It seemed to Parker that with an almost trained expertise, Griffin landed a punch across the woman's face and twisted the arm holding the gun making it drop to the floor. This, however, hadn't rendered the woman unconscious and Griffin was forced into giving her another punch.

"Don't really have a habit of hitting girls, but in your case I made an exception." Griffin snatched up the gun and tossed it in Parker's direction just as more Paladins swarmed in.

Parker wasn't thinking about her actions when she instinctively reached out to catch the gun. The cold metal fell into her inexperienced hands and she fumbled with it for a second or two.

"Wha-What am I supposed to do with this?!"

There were two of them, both men and not one of them looked too happy, but at the sight of Griffin their irritation seemed to increase. Ever the observant one, even when she was scared beyond her wits she noticed that the men weren't carrying guns like the woman had. Instead they gripped onto pole shaped objects, the same as the object her father had in the basement and that was now resting in Griffin's desert hideout.

"How 'bout using it?"

Without saying a word, one of the men shot his object at Griffin, dispelling metallic looking ropes that sizzled with electricity. Before the ropes could meet their target, Griffin was gone, jumping away from his enemies only to appear further down the hall, behind Parker.

"What?!" Parker's hands began to shake as she continued to hold the gun, the palms of her hands sweating.

"Kinda weak don't ya think?" Griffin held out his arms tauntingly. "Here we are in this cramped hall and that's all you've got? I expected more guys, really."

Parker still struggled with what was going on before her. The uncomforting feel of the gun in her hands made her heart speed up more than it already was.

"Just give it up," the other man said.

Griffin jumped from view, leaving Parker in the presence of the Paladins, one dead, one unconscious and two set on bringing Griffin down. With him gone, she felt the attention shift to her. The two men's eyes drilled into her, studying her every feature. They looked at her like they recognized her, but just hadn't seen her in a long time. Basic instinctual reasoning had her raising the gun, nerves had her hands shaking and fright had her finger hesitating over the trigger.

She didn't want to have to shoot neither of them. She didn't want to make her finger squeeze down on the small metal trigger. It felt like she wasn't breathing and her eyes were wide and unyielding when it came to keeping the two men in her sights. One of the Paladins─ the one who'd put his weapon into action─ looked like he was on the verge of saying something to her, his lips parted and on the way to forming words. They went unsaid though, as Griffin reappeared in mid air chasing away the opportunity for any one of them to speak to her.

In his hands was the microscope that'd been on Parker's desk. He raised it above his head and as he came down, feet dropping to the floor, he smashed it across the head of the Paladin that'd attempted to electrocute him.

"When I get in there things better be in tip top shape," came the voice so familiar to Parker it hurt to hear it. "I want that piece of trash in there wrapped up like a present!"

The other Paladin, the only other remaining wasted no time in activating his weapon. Griffin dodged the electricity drenched ropes and gave a quick fleeting glance at Parker. She was so scared she was shaking, the gun trembling in her hands. Not being able to think about her, he faced his opponent, who was keen on getting a proud capture.

Parker watched as Griffin managed to disarm the Paladin, but not before receiving a soundly punch to the face. Parker winced as she lowered the gun. Her hands at her side still shook and her eyes were still wide with caution and fear. She watched as an elbow sunk its way into Griffin's abdomen sending him staggering back. She couldn't help but wonder if an ounce of this was her fault, her fault for talking Griffin into this, instead of waiting for her father.

Parker dropped the gun and looked around. There was no way she going to be able to raise the gun again and pull the trigger. She didn't seem to have it in her to kill and with no experience using a gun she would more than likely end up shooting a chunk of wall or Griffin instead of the intended target. Eyes darting around the confined space of the hall, she searched for something to use as a weapon. There was nothing, the hall was spotless of any thing she could possibly use.

Griffin slammed into the wall particularly hard and grimaced. From the living room she could hear a cry escape her mother. It both hurt and terrified her, the things that were going on around her. Parker's eyes settled on the progression of her childhood hung up on the walls for anyone who passed by to see and much to her embarrassment. Not too much thought was required when she decided on snatching up a particularly none too flattering photo of her during her snaggle tooth years, its frame gripped tight in her hand. Very sure was she that by now the Paladin had forgotten all about her in his exploits to kill Griffin.

Parker held her breath and bit her lip as she crept up behind the man. The man, this Paladin seemed to have taken a perverse interest in sinking his fist into Griffin. It was true that these people held a hatred for him. Parker watched as Griffin caught the man's arm before he could land another punch. She held the picture high over her head and brought her arm down; making sure the sharp point dug itself into the man's temple.

She raised her arm again and brought it down again and again until she caught sight of the blood running down the man's head and stopped, the picture frame slipping from her hand. The man stood there on the brink of disorientation.

Griffin landed a punch knocking away the last bits of the man's consciousness. The man slumped over onto Parker and without any thought required, she pushed his away.

"Oh my god," Parker whispered bringing her hand to her mouth.

"No time for that. Your parents, remember them?"

Griffin stepped over the man's body and preceded to the living room, Parker having torn her eyes away from the mini battle scene followed. The two stopped just before the entrance, peering into the room from the entryway.

At what she saw her heart leapt into her throat.

Her father was sitting rigid on the couch. There were bruises in their first stages decorating his face and he glared up from his seated position at dark skinned man with platinum blonde hair that just couldn't be natural. There were four other goons in the room and one of them was pointing a gun into her mother's forehead. She was seated across from her father in an arm chair; a terrified expression was painted all over her. Tears fell freely from her eyes as she tried to keep them on her father and her shoulders were hunched.

Parker gasped and made to lurch forward, wanting nothing more than to go to her parents but Griffin held onto the back of her sweatshirt. "Wait a minute."

Parker looked at him as if he'd grown an extra head in the last second. The whole point in them coming had been to get her parents out of this mess and now he decided they needed to hold back? Parker was just about on the verge of voicing her thoughts when Griffin gave her a look.

"Information," he said simply and turned his attention back to what was happening in the living room. Parker looked at him a second more, noticing the way his eyes turned to glowering. She then turned her attention back to the living room and with bated breath watched.

"_You don't tell me where it is then this won't end any easie__r for you. Jones already spilled the beans Richard. I don't know why the hell your organization decided to place trust in a spineless jackass like that. The moment I showed up on his doorstep he told me everything." Roland stood before her father with his arms behind his back._

"_I don't know what you're talking─"_

"_YOU DO!"_

_At Roland's shout the man holding the gun to her mother's head cocked back the gun's hammer back_.

Parker made another lunge and Griffin tightened his hold on her stopping any progression_._

"_Richard," her mother wailed. "Wh-whatever you know just tell him!"_

"_Listen to your wife Richard."_

"Let go," Parker whispered harshly. Fear be damned she would die before just standing there watching her parents get hurt without doing anything. For what felt like the millionth time that day, her eyes began to tear up.

"_The letter Jones sent you, where the hell is it?"_

Like a ton of bricks the flashback hit her, stilling her struggling body in Griffin's constraint.

Her mom pulling herself away her book enough to ask her to get the mail.

Running out in the brisk cold.

Pondering over the envelope addressed to her father before giving it over to her mother.

Forgetting about it in exchange for her daily routine.

After she had dinner she had spread out a day's worth of homework all over the kitchen table making a mess of the surface. When she had been too tired to move forward she had abandoned it all to go to bed. It dawned on her that with her homework must've been the letter addressed to her father. Could it be the very letter Mr. Cox was talking about? She recalled that morning sweeping all of her papers into her backpack haphazardly.

"_I don't know where the fuck it is!" Mr. Hales yelled seeing__ that the threat on his wife real. The fear on her face guilted him into what was somewhat of an admission. _

Parker turned to Griffin frowning. "He's telling the truth. He doesn't know where the letter is."

"What're you talking about?" Griffin's question was answered a moment later.

"_You know there's a code in that letter don't you?" Roland planted his face close to Richard's._

Parker spied her backpack across the living room, lying by the side of the front door. If the letter was important enough she had to get to it. Maybe she could trade it.

"_Do you hear that?" Roland straightened and turned to the people in the room. No one responded. "It's quiet. Too quiet."_

Griffin pushed passed Parker and into the living room giving himself away to Roland and the rest of the Paladins. "That's because your crew is incapacitated."

A sick smile played on Roland's face. "You." His voice sounded off his hatred.

No snarkish remarks came from Griffin, only a dull odium stare.

"Killing two birds with one stone would just be the icing on the cake," Roland nodded his head. "Taking care of this idiot for betraying us and taking you down."

"Glad that today's not the day you'll be killing two birds then."

"Griffin where's Parker? Is she─ tell me she's safe," said Mr. Hales frantically.

At the inquiry of her daughter, Mrs. Hales looked from her husband to the young man in the room. Parker stumbled forward into the room and at the sight of her, her father yelled out, her mother slid her eyes closed and hung her head.

At this point her father was practically livid. "You were supposed to keep her away from this! Didn't you remember what I told you? It's true! It's all true!"

Griffin took his eyes away from Roland to look at the desperate man.

"What is going on," Mrs. Hales whispered.

Parker wanted to tell what she knew. She wanted to shout out that the damned letter they wanted was in her backpack, not even ten feet away, but something stopped her. Something about the people clustered in her living room threatening her parents stopped her. The person holding the gun to her mother's head wouldn't hesitate in pulling the trigger. The Paladins in the hall hadn't faltered in trying to kill Griffin and something told her that nothing would change once they got what they wanted. After all, her father had betrayed them.

Her shoulder tweaked in soreness as she dropped her shoulders. There was nothing she could do. Absolutely nothing.

"They don't know anything," Mr. Hales said referring to his wife and child.

Roland paid no attention to his plea. "What the hell are you all standing around for? Get him," he spoke to the others with a frustrated wave in Griffin's direction.

"A bit slow, your people aren't they?" Griffin commented before starting into a flurry of jumps.

"Mr. Cox," Parker started forward, taking the spot where Griffin had been standing. "Let them go, please."

"No you stay there! Stay there!" Roland shouted at the man who'd been holding the gun to her mother's head as he was about to join the fight. The man settled back, cocking his gun once more.

Parker breathed, "Please. I thought you were an okay guy."

"Oh Parker, I'm more than an okay guy, much more. I'm doing god's work which makes me an outstanding guy," said Roland.

Parker shook her head, a stray tear escaping from her eye. "God wouldn't want you to kill my parents, nor─nor kill people just because their different. What you're doing is wrong."

Roland shook his head. "I'm not preaching to you Miss Hales. That's your daddy's job. He should've told you about these desecrations but he didn't and you know what I respected that. I respected that!" Roland's last sentence was directed towards her father. "I respected what you wanted in your home and you betrayed me." Roland shook his head and then said, "I don't forgive betrayal. I'd tell you to ask Jones, but you can't."

The sounds of the violence going on about the room were drowned out to Parker as she listened with a furrowed brow to what Roland was saying, what his words were implying.

Roland pointed to where Griffin currently was pummeling a Paladin with an iron poker after having stabbed another in the gut. "Your precious Network is in line with these god damn…" Roland took a breath before speaking again. "The Network is no different than a jumper in my eyes, on the same damn side."

"We're doing the right thing," her father seethed.

Parker witnessed the passion in his eyes and knew he was right. The trouble he'd gotten his family into was for a good cause, for what he believed in. Her father was a man who helped people every chance that he got and Parker'd do the same. She'd be no different. She strode forward and towards her backpack. Sinking to her knees, she unzipped the backpack and dumped out all its contents sending paper sloppily to the floor in front of her.

Parker sifted through loose math notes, old English essays and pens before seeing the familiar tip of the envelope with the neat scrawl. She snatched it up and got to her feet. Roland, who'd been watching her, dawned a smirk. Parker had not one doubt in her mind that he knew what she was holding and at his apparent look it was just what he sought.

"Give-it-to-me," Roland said slowly.

"Don't do it kiddo," her father begged. He never begged. "Don't."

Roland started for her and Parker went through the motions of backing away. Parker felt the letter ripped from her hand and looked around wildly to see who'd done so. The three Paladins were bleeding onto the hardwood floors and Griffin was holding up the letter smugly in his hand. There was only Roland and his crony pointing the gun at her mother left.

"You got trainees on duty with you or what because they were relatively easy to kill," Griffin said.

Roland, not at all slow on the handing out the burns said, "Easy like it was killing dear old mom and dad?"

Griffin glared at Roland. "You want what's in this envelope, huh?"

"Kiddo, kid, look at me." Mr. Hales' loud but hoarse voice drew her attention from Roland. "I have something important to tell you. Are you listening to me Parker? Are you listening?"

"Give it to me peacefully," Roland said with an eerie calmness. "And you might be granted one more day in your pathetic life."

Parker darted her eyes from her father, then to the man holding the gun to her mother's head and once again back to her dad. She nodded and nodded too enthusiastically sending her curls bouncing on her shoulder. "I'm listening."

"Good. If it hurts, if it bothers you that's where the answer is." He spoke quickly. At her confused expression he nodded. "I know it makes no sense now but it will. You're a smart girl. Remember what I told you. You _can_ do this."

The way her father was speaking she didn't like. It sounded too much like he was giving up, like he knew it all was going to end badly for him. Parker bit her lip. "Daddy?"

"Griffin," her father said strictly.

"Yeah, yeah I know. You'll send for her." Griffin's eyes were glued to Roland as he spoke to Mr. Hales.

"Until then, you watch her. What I said still holds true."

"_She's got something that's highly sensitive to their organization. They get her and everything that we've worked on goes down the tube."_ Griffin recalled what Mr. Hales had said to him. There was nothing he wanted more out of life than taking down each and every Paladin and if he had to watch some girl to get there, then he would albeit painfully. Griffin tightened his hold on the envelope.

"You want this," Griffin said casually. "You'll have to come get me to get it then, won't you?"

Roland snarled. "Do it!"

Griffin grabbed onto Parker and jumped but not in time for Parker to miss the sound of a gun being fired.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Just wanted to thank everyone collectively for the most reviews I've ever gotten for this story so far. I hope I continue to please.

Chapter Seven

Her breath left her lungs in raspy wheezes, moving wayward curls from in front of her face. They hadn't gone to the sun stricken hectic streets of Tokyo again; no where they went was dark with hardly anyone out walking on the sidewalks. The signs around them were all in English and absolutely none of this mattered to Parker. A multitude of things were swirling around her head as the sound of the gun going off echoed through her ears. Everything in her felt numb and confused at what had just happened, but above all other undiagnosed feelings going on within her, she refused to believe. She stared dimly at Griffin watching as he stuffed the envelope in one of the pockets in his jeans.

Griffin began walking; sniffing as if he hadn't just fought a clan of Paladins and recovered something his arch enemy had desperately wanted. Parker shuffled behind him feeling out of character and separated from her body at the same time. Her legs moved of their oven accord, propelling her forward when all she wanted to do was curl up into a little ball. Maybe what she heard hadn't at all been what she thought it was. Maybe something big somewhere had fallen, emulating the sound of the gun. Maybe it was her nerves that made her believe it was the gun. It could've been the power of suggestion with Roland's hateful talk and the man holding her mom hostage.

"What are you doing? We have to go back," Parker said. "We have to go back and-and get my parents. We were close!"

Griffin smirked. "That's funny, you're in denial."

"Denial? I'm not in denial," she barked at the brown haired jumper. "Now we have to go back─"

"No," Griffin interrupted. "What we have to do is throw 'em off in case they decide to follow," he said quickly crossing the street and turning down a random one. He grabbed her arm and jumped again. The sensation was something Parker was quickly growing used to. The pull and being a bit winded.

This time they were on a short little walking bridge. Where she didn't know and didn't think to ask when the urge to go back was so strong for her.

"And stay low for a while. We need to go over some things," Griffin continued walking; the last part came in a bit of reluctance.

"What about my parents," Parker whispered.

Griffin stopped his sturdy march and faced Parker forcing her to stop too.

"What?" She asked this with an almost innocent sadness.

"What?" Griffin reiterated with surprise. "You don't understand this do you?"

Parker crossed her arms, afraid for what she was going to hear.

"Roland or Mr. Cox as you call him isn't a joke. He's a mad fucking righteous bigot and as you _just _saw, he'll stop at nothing to complete his mission."

Parker bit the inside of her cheek. The harshness in his voice made her want to cringe because despite not knowing this person whom her father had insistently paired her with she knew what was going to come from his mouth. What was going to be said to her would be nothing more than unbridled truth, a truth she didn't want to hear.

"I know that, but─"

"There aren't any buts to this!"

Parker shook her head at him and quickly averted her eyes to the ground once she felt the hold she was keeping on a torrent of tears slipping. She curled her arms around herself, ignoring the cringe in her shoulder. "There're buts. There are _many_ buts," she said with an undertone of desperation. "But I didn't see anything happen, meaning there could be a chance that-that they're okay. I mean Mr. Cox could've decided to─"

"No," Griffin growled. "No."

Bleary hazel eyes were lifted, not being able to hide from the inevitable.

"Your parents, Parker, are dead."

Parker stood there, looking into Griffin's grave face and could only feel the steady thrum of her heart within its cage. It couldn't be true, and yet she couldn't ignore the very real possibility that was staring her in the face. The gun shot she heard hadn't been for nothing, the bullet had to have gone somewhere and she wasn't so naïve to not know that it hadn't gone in the air, wasted on sprinkling ceiling debris onto the floor. Roland Cox hadn't been who she thought he was. She'd seen the look in his eyes, the crazed glint that was present there.

Griffin's words settled somewhere in the pit of her stomach. Her parents were dead. The sound of the gun going off echoed through her head again. She felt sick. Parker took a ragged breath and pushed past Griffin, not even remotely aware of the fact that she had no idea where she was. Her quick pace carried her off the bridge and into the light traffic of the side walks.

If it hadn't been for the fact that Parker was a highly desired target by the Paladins whether they knew so or not, he wouldn't have thought twice about her walking away, but now as she shuffled her way through people, his eyes were forced on her figure. It was only because losing Parker couldn't be afforded did he follow after her. It was silly that the possibility of being able to take down a group who were centuries old laid itself within some incompetent clueless girl. Griffin thought that the whole thing could've probably been avoided had the Network tightened its lips, but going over what could've been done didn't help him now. Her parents were more than likely dead, he understood that, he got it, but now wasn't a particularly convenient time to freak out.

Parker knew that he'd follow; she knew it only because of what her father had said. For some inane reason she was important, but Parker didn't know why. She didn't want to know why. All she wanted was to distance herself as much as possible from Griffin. She pushed through the few innocent people out, ignoring the rude comments and the flare of pain in her shoulder. The tears dropped freely from her eyes and she didn't bother wiping them away or muffling the sound of her sobs.

Parker could hear the frustrated voice of Griffin telling her to stop, but she paid him no mind. She whipped around a corner and under the brutal glare of a street lamp before Griffin suddenly appeared before her. Out of her tear washed eyes all she could see was a blurred vision and it ultimately stopped her travel, making her bump into solid form.

"Would you stop please! Just stop!" The please sounded foreign to his mouth and it really didn't sound as if he meant it to go with that sentence. "Look, I know what you're going through─"

Out of a spout of rage Parker shook her head. "You don't know!" She planted her hands firmly on his chest and attempted to push him away. Parker had no desire to deal with everything that came with Griffin at the moment. He caught her wrists before she could get off a second shove and attempted to hold her fighting form in place. "Listen to me!"

Parker tugged her wrists trying to free them from Griffin, but he only tightened his hold.

"Just let go of me," she sobbed.

"Would you listen to me? Stop just stop and listen!"

"Please," begged Parker. Her eyes squeezed shut causing more tears to come forth.

Griffin let go of her wrists and held her arms in a grip just as tight as before. "They're dead. They're dead and I do know what you're going through! You've gotta screw your head on straight, alright?"

There was no alright for Parker. The sound of the gun going off kept resounding in her head. And desperately she was fighting with the truth in her mind but she felt herself loosing, loosing he belief that her parents were still alive. All she wanted was to be left alone. Parker didn't want to deal with any of the problems that accompanied Griffin.

Parker sucked in air and jerked away from him.

"Hey, is-is everything okay here?" A concerned appearing college-ish aged guy stood a few feet from them. A woman that looked to be the same age as the man clung onto his arm and seemed to have as much concern as her counterpart.

Griffin groaned and ignored them. "Screw it on straight."

"I asked if everything was alright," came the stranger's voice.

Parker breathed heavily and let out a weighty snivel. Griffin continued ignoring the strangers. "Get. It. Together. They are dead. Now what? What are you going to do about it?"

"Hey!"

The man seemed to be fed up with not being responded to.

"Why don't you come with me, sweetie," the woman said in a calming voice.

Griffin, having had enough of the two turned to them still holding his grip on Parker. "Why don't the two of you fuck off?"

Having already come to his conclusion the guy stepped forward. "Get away from her."

Griffin looked at the no named stranger with almost empty glaring eyes, before turning his attention back to Parker. He jumped away from the two strangers and back to his lair as he originally intended to. "Don't know why I didn't think of that first," he muttered to himself before moving away from Parker and flopping into the chair in front of his computer setup.

Parker didn't have any fight left in her. Absolutely none was left. She found her legs giving out beneath the comfort of Griffin's worn couch and finally she was able to curl up into the ball that she wanted.

Aside from her crying, there was a quiet that pierced the lair for all of a minute. A quiet that seemed to be filled with all of the emotion that had been experienced that night went through the room. It may have come mostly from Parker, but it was there.

"What're you gonna do?" Griffin swiveled back and forth in his chair as he broke the silence. His hands were intertwined as he slouched forward, blue eyes on Parker's weak form folded tightly into herself on his couch. "What now?"

Parker couldn't help the black murky feeling that crept into her veins at the question. It burned within her, made her head hurt, made her want to grind her teeth together. The sound of the gun went off in her head again. Roland's voice reverberated through her. Her body shook with more cries when she remembered her parents.

She knew what she was going to do. She knew just what she was going to do, but for now all she could manage were the shaky whimpers that came from the deepest part of her soul.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Thank you to all those who took the time and reviewed. Those keep the confidence high if you know what I mean. A reminder so that everything is a-ok, this story takes place two years before the actual movie. Another chapter and you know the deal, review please. Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

Chapter Eight

A day.

A whole day had past where Parker couldn't manage anything else but lying on that old shabby couch starring ahead of her. The very prospect of living life without her parents was still paralyzing. It was paralyzing to the point where eating, sleeping or taking care of herself went ignored, they were only desires that weren't necessary and unimportant enough to disregard. She was well aware of what needed to be done. Her father had made sure that she was saddled with whatever he was into.

A pang of resentment was tracking its way through Parker's system and didn't seem to want to leave. Though she knew that sometime she'd have to get up and figure things out, she didn't seem to have the will to do so. Her body seemed quite content to just lay there in its curled position; her eyes seemed fine in their glazed state and her mind was satisfied with going over the morbid thoughts it conjured up about her parents. She was lucky in not having any interruptions. Dimly was Parker aware of Griffin's presence as he went about doing whatever it was that he did.

He hadn't bothered her one bit and for it Parker was grateful. She knew he barely cared. It was only her father's words that kept her here, in his company. A liability was all she was to him and it was only because she harbored something that could be useful to both sides was she in his quote unquote lair. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that had she had nothing pertaining to her father's cause and everything still had happened the way that it did, Griffin wouldn't care about her plight. He wouldn't care in the least.

Parker, in a brief state of lucidness, thought about whether or not there was anyone left that would care. She thought about the very moment she'd left her parents, whether or not from that moment on was the start of not being cared for by anyone. It was a thought that made her want to shed tears, but she had no more to be shed. Her well that'd be stocked fully with the water works was depleted. As much as she wanted to, she'd cried all the tears she could.

Her hours of solitude were up though, she hadn't expected them to last forever but she sure didn't anticipate them to be interrupted by strings of curses and aggravation being cast her way.

"Enough, you've had enough time to sit there and gather your thoughts. Now its time for you to get up and help shine some damn light on this." Griffin stood a few inches away from her. He was holding up a familiar envelope to her eyes and Parker noticed that it was ripped open.

"I don't really feel like it right now." It'd taken an incredible effort for the words to pass Parker's lips. She sighed and closed her eyes from Griffin's goaded form.

"And what, you feel like molding yourself permanently to my couch? Look, I gave you some time because I get it." He waved the arm holding the letter. "I got the whole my parents are dead and I need time to grieve thing, but now as-as much as I'd rather not have it, I need your help in telling me what the hell this is supposed to mean."

"Later, maybe," Parker said without opening her eyes. She most definitely knew that she was going to help against these Paladins, but all she needed was a little more time, just a little more time.

"Huh," Griffin grunted. "Was I not clear enough? Did you not understand me? Let me get it right for you." He crouched down and looked at her. "If I'm to end this entire thing then you've got to help."

Parker opened her eyes in a roll and focused them on Griffin. "Could you for one minute, not be so mean to me? It's not hard."

Griffin ignored the request in favor of criticism. "Honestly, I understand the whole grieving thing but how can you just lay there all day? Don't you have to take a piss or something?"

Parker sat up, only grimacing slightly when her shoulder jolted in discomfort. "Just give me the letter, I'll figure this out on my own." Her eyes could no longer meet Griffin. She just wanted to be out of his hair and if he was pestering her now, she figured it was a good enough time to give herself the boot.

"Oh really? And then what'll you do?"

Parker bit her lip, not wanting to respond.

Griffin gave a smart aleck smirk and tucking the letter into his back pocket said, "Thought so." He watched her continuing to avoid looking at him.

There was a silence that settled itself between them. Whether it was the heartrending look plastered over Parker's downwards angled face or the urge to get moving on figuring out why her father had said she was important to the cause, neither the universe nor even Griffin himself knew, but it had him moving towards a shelf laden with comic books. He counted from the bottom up and his finger landed in the offset middle of the pile. From between the comics Griffin pulled out a wad of money, and counted out a number of bills before stuffing the rest back in its hiding spot.

Parker had lifted her head when she'd realized that Griffin had abandoned harassing her. She took the small bit of unnoticed time to watch him. Had circumstances been different, she would've laughed out loud about the notion of someone hiding their money between superman and green lantern comics, but since they weren't and she was sitting quite stone like trying to not think anymore on her parents' death, the humor died somewhere in her mind.

"C'mon," Griffin said somewhat begrudgingly.

"What," Parker frowned, confused. "Where are we─"

Before she could complete her question, Griffin had caught hold of her arm and pulled her away from the couch and the underground hideout all together.

Being cast out underneath the afternoon's dimming sun made her feel completely washed out, especially after having been so stoic for hours on end. Still, no matter how uncomfortable she felt in her own skin, she had to ignore it to keep in time with Griffin's ever moving pace. Briefly, she wondered whether or not he ever stopped moving. Whatever city or town he'd taken them to had a mellow pace to it, a big difference to the rapidly busy Tokyo. Parker looked around at the normalcy of everything surrounding her, recalling how not too long ago, it'd been her life that was nothing but normal.

She wondered whether or not any of the people going about their daily humdrum lives had an iota of an idea or belief of what was really going on. Parker had been like that, blissfully oblivious to anything involving jumpers or Paladins and had no clue about the Network, the organization her father was involved in. Compared to now, her head had been stuck in the clouds quite comfortably. She wished her head was still there, trapped in fluffy ignorance.

They walked only a short distance before stopping at the front of some small looking diner.

"I don't know about you," Griffin said as he opened the door to the diner. "But I'm starved."

"I'm not really." Parker followed him inside. "Can't you just give me the letter?" Now that she was up and coherent she figured taking her mind away from things was a good option to keep from thinking about her parents. The letter would help to do that and get her one step closer to figuring out something maybe, _anything._ Griffin ignored her and seated himself at a table in the back of the small establishment. Reluctantly, Parker followed, sliding herself warily into the seat across from him.

Ignoring the dried up spot of ketchup in front of her, Parker stared at Griffin wishing that he'd pay her the slightest bit of attention instead of to the laminated menu that had been provided. She tapped her fingers against the table as she kept her eyes studying him. His shoulders were slightly hunched as he scanned the menu and every now and then his blue eyes would skirt past her observing form, and towards the entrance. Parker would guess that it was an ingrained habit with the life he led. Constantly being on the lookout for people who believed you shouldn't exist had to give you a constant paranoia.

Parker watched him rake his fingers through his mussed hair and wondered if he ever bothered with taming it. She doubted it. The moment she'd set eyes on him, he had this slightly shabby look to him. It said that he'd more important things to do than worry about whether or not his jeans had a substantial amount of rips in them. Parker noticed the pair he wore did have rips, in the knee and one towards his calf. Also, Parker noticed the slight darkness set underneath his eyes, suggested that sleep patterns were nonexistent in his life.

"Would you quit staring at me?"

"You're desensitized," Parker declared subtly.

Griffin looked up from his menu, tossing it aside. "What the hell are you talking about, desensitized?"

His question was placed on the back burner when a waitress came over to the table. She was a relatively large woman with thick glasses and a mole in the corner of her nose so big Parker was sure she needed to have it looked at. The name tag on her uniform read Gertrude.

"What're you havin'?"

Griffin looked towards the waitress and told her his desire for a hamburger. Gertrude turned her attention and small notepad towards Parker.

"Nothing for me, thanks," said Parker absently.

That sentence should've sent Gertrude on her merry way, but the woman stood there. Parker felt good ol' Gertrude's eyes on her long after she looked away. It was unsettling having a complete stranger so close stare at her. Perhaps she shouldn't have done so with Griffin, analyze him, but she found for those brief moments that she had; it took her mind away from the things that bothered it. The subject of her mini analysis cleared his throat rather loudly and shot borderline harsh eyes towards the waitress.

Taking the not so subtle hint, Gertrude retreated towards the kitchen but not before giving Parker one last look.

"You've got a bit of blood on you." Griffin pointed towards her sweater. It was the nonchalant way that Griffin voiced his observation that had Parker going back to her original thought.

Parker looked down at her sweatshirt and found that there were small speckles of blood dotted here and there. She grimaced at the sight. It brought back the memory of what happened and it wasn't something she wanted to think about at the current moment.

"You're desensitized," she went back to her observational thoughts.

"Just what are you on about?"

"It's the only reasoning to why you can just sit there and think about your appetite when not too long ago you were in a-a-," she battled with the right words to describe what happened at her house. Finally she settled on, "a humongous battle."

"Humongous, haven't heard anybody use that word in a while," he glanced towards where Gertrude had withdrew.

"How long have you been doing that?" Parker pulled her sweatshirt away from her body in efforts to distance herself from the blood belonging to god knows who.

"Doing what?" Griffin pulled a packet of salt from a porcelain container on the table and ripped it open.

Parker abandoned the tugging of her sweatshirt and chose to instead ignore it. "You know, running from them, the Paladins."

"Would you keep your voice down," Griffin looked around at the other patrons, but none of them were paying them the least bit of mind. Griffin momentarily abandoned the packet of salt he'd opened to lean into the table. "I'm not running from Paladins, alright?"

"You're not? Then what do you call living in an underground cave?"

"It's a not a damn cave, it's a lair," he was quick to correct.

"Alright, yeah sure. If you're not running from them, then what are you doing, because it doesn't make sense. If I were in your shoes," Parker ignored the fact that she sort of was. "Then I'd be trying to distance myself from them as much as possible. Isn't that the only solution?"

Griffin went back to his packet of salt, angling it so that its contents spilled out onto the table. "So you mean to say after all the shit that just happened to you, all you wanna do is run?" Griffin shook his head and swirled his finger through the spilled salt.

Parker frowned as she watched his finger travel through the salt. What she wanted to do was different from running. It was different because, despite all that'd happened, she didn't expect to be buried in what her father was or had been into forever. She may have to run now, but it wouldn't be forever.

"I don't want to run," said Parker carefully. "I want to finish whatever my father was doing and maybe take out the people who killed my parents." The words sounded weird to her when they came from her mouth. Talk of revenge had only gone so far as pillow fights and the occasional silly string when it came to Parker, not like this.

Griffin let out a short laugh. "And then what? You think it'll be over, done, finished, just a small tragic thing that happened in your life?"

Parker's frown deepened as she looked at Griffin. How he found her predicament the least bit amusing she'd never know. It wasn't amusing at all; it was her life, _her life_ that was being ruined.

"If you think that you're thick as a brick, sweetheart."

"Then what," anger leaked from Parker's voice. "I'm supposed to let this go on forever?"

"You're father was in this for the long run. It wasn't some silly pet project of his."

Parker felt her leg shaking beneath the table. The mention of her father brought his handsome yet somewhat nerdish face to her memory. She bit the inside of her cheek, creating a small distraction in the form of pain to keep from thinking of him. It wasn't really working.

"Once you're in this, you're in it."

Parker, even with her strong desire to distance herself from the memory of her dad, couldn't help the stinging sensation in her heart. "How do you know that my dad wasn't- that he was going to be involved with this long term?"

Griffin drilled his eyes into Parker, overlooking the saddened look she was adopting. "Because I hunt them. I hunt Paladins and your dad gave me information."

Parker shrugged. "So."

"So, information that dates back for years. He'd been with the Network gathering info for years."

At this unveiled information, Parker's leg shook more. A deadening feeling went through her and she honestly didn't know what to think or what to make of what Griffin had just said. Gertrude returned with Griffin's order and set it in front of him, all the while her eyes were still on Parker. Parker, feeling Gertrude's stare once again, made herself as small as possible by folding her arms and settling her chin into the small comfort they provided. Her gloomy yet concentrated guise was planted firmly on her face.

"Are you alright?" Gertrude had a surprisingly froggy voice.

"She's fine," Griffin interjected before Parker could even think to reply. "A bit zonked if you get my drift." His tone was clipped, not at all giving off an inkling of friendliness.

Gertrude glared at him before stalking off to another table. Parker decided to ignore the details of her father and the Network and watch as Griffin picked up his disgusting looking burger. He hunted Paladins, he'd told her and it reminded her of what Mr. Cox had said to him back at her house, or more like what he had revealed.

"You hunt Paladins," she said slowly.

"Mmm."

Parker wasn't sure if he was acknowledging her or commenting on how good his hamburger was. She continued even though she was hesitant to do so after the last time she'd commented on his parents. "You hunt them because they killed your parents?"

Parker watched as he let his burger flop onto the plate. He looked at her dully. She wanted to take his look and reaction for a yes but that wasn't what he gave her. He skirted around the issue of his parents all together.

"It's either kill or be killed," he said before turning back to his food.

Parker nodded in her arms, the fabric rubbing against her skin. She believed him to a certain extent, but she thought that he had other motives for tracking Paladins and those motives lied in losing his parents. Even though she hadn't known him for long, there was a look in his eyes that gave away his hurt. Parker watched as he devoured his food and couldn't help but feel empathy for him. Maybe all his cynicism, sarcasm, and overall general rudeness came from a good amount of time spent living out a sort of revenge factor.

It wasn't fair, Parker decided. What happened to the both of them wasn't fair. And right then Parker decided that she wasn't going to hold anything against Griffin.

Parker sneaked her arm across the table and stole a fry from Griffin's plate.

"The hell? Did the waitress not ask you if you wanted something?"

The first piece of food she'd had in a while didn't taste as good as she thought it would. Nonetheless, she ignored Griffin's meanness and took more of his fries. "You never answered my question."

"Oh," Griffin said eating the last bite of his burger, before pulling his plate from Parker's reach.

"I asked how long you've been doing this."

"Long enough to know what I'm doing."

Griffin was picking at his fries and the sounds of grease popping and people talking became more prominent to Parker. The way Griffin was dawdling over the French fries reminded Parker of the way Lynn would inspect hers before slathering ketchup all over them. Lynn. Parker instantly thought of her friends and how worried they must be about her. She turned wide eyes towards her temporary companion.

"My friends, what about them?! He won't go after them will he?"

Griffin knew the he she was referring to and looked up from his plate. "More than likely."

"What?" Parker lifted her head and unfolded her arms. "But-but they don't have anything to do─"

Her voice became squeaky and quite louder drawing some eyes towards the table. "Pipe down will you!" Griffin's eyes shifted around before they settled on glowering at Parker.

"They don't know anything about my dad, how, why…"

Griffin rolled his eyes. "Doesn't matter. They'll be keeping an eye out in case you've shit for brains and contact them."

Parker frowned. "I don't have shit for brains."

"Good to know," Griffin blinked not really interested.

"I'm smart enough to know that if someone was after you, you don't contact someone you know," she babbled, only really just realizing that fact. "I'm not dumb."

The sinking feeling that she wasn't going to be able to see her friends for a long time added to her grief. She had to leave her entire life behind her. It was frustrating and angering at the same time. She slumped down in her seat as the realization of the big picture settled in.

"Right." Griffin reached behind him and pulled the letter from his back pocket. He tossed the envelope her way.

Before picking it up, she looked at the envelope, then to Griffin and back to the envelope in her slouched position. She felt overwhelmed with everything, but she straightened and took the envelope which seemed to hum in her hand. After one more glance Griffin's─ who wasn't even looking at her but squirting a puddle of ketchup onto his plate─ way, she took the paper from inside and unfolded it.

Confusion was what hit her when she first set eyes on the paper. Dots littered the paper in small formations clustered together. The clusters were separated by multiplication, division, addition and subtraction signs. Parker turned the paper over and found that the dots and the math signs continued on the other side. She shook her head and lowered the paper away from her eyes.

"I don't get it."

"Guess you'll have to figure it out then, aye?"

"This doesn't make sense," Parker looked back to the paper. "Why would anybody send this to my dad?" Parker reached out and took the soda that had sat untouched in front of Griffin. Griffin scowled at her actions and let out an irritated sound resembling a grunt.

"It's obviously in code, but I've never seen code like this."

Parker examined the little clusters of dots for a minute of two, her mind forming up theories of how to crack the code. She took a sip of Griffin's Pepsi; the bubbles floating up towards her nose caused it to crinkle. It didn't phase her thought process though, but another urge had. Parker looked away from the paper, putting it down and stood after having spotted her target.

"Where are you going," Griffin asked critically as he looking up.

"To take a piss as you so elegantly put it before."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**** Semi-important: **Usually I like to take the time to respond to each of my reviewers personally as a courtesy because everyone's taken time to review, but as of late my computer has been acting odd and has not been permitting me to do the simplest things. I know _bad bad bad _computer, so I just want to thank everyone who reviewed. _Quixotica, LouThePixie, Toxic-Neon, secret-mystery, ShadowWolfDagger(until I get the book I will probably take you up on that!) and xqulth._ Also to those who put me on their watch list. You guys are awesome. I appreciate it ten fold.

So on one last note, I pretty much envisioned Griffin's lair as a place that's got everything should you need to be holed up their for quite sometime. So with the aid of the movie and some detailed pictures I've found around the net, is where I'm getting all the description from. I'm constantly reminding myself that this is just a fic for fun, nothing too serious. So anyways if I get something wrong, let me know.

**Disclaimer: **Jack my new American character doesn't really belong to me because he's mentioned in the movie. I just put a name and characteristics to him. Parker's one hundred percent mine though and everything else is well you know not.

Without anymore words from me, here you go…

Chapter Nine

Hazel eyes focused intently on the mystery printed on the paper before them. The task kept the owner of aforementioned eyes from going berserk about the whole situation. Figuring out puzzles and riddles were never a strong suit of Parker Hale's, but for the moment she'd take it over thinking about unsavory memories. It was quiet around her as she sat lolled upside down on the couch back at the underground hideout strictly called the lair. Parker was a little glad for the isolation Griffin had unintentionally given her; it gave her the time to go over everything they'd spoken of at the diner.

Lynn and Bobby, she wished that they hadn't had to be caught up in everything. Lynn had been her best friend since first grade and they were practically joined at the hip when together. She'd know just how to always cheer her up, even though it usually included food and Lynn gossiping one sided over something that happened in school. And Bobby, Bobby had joined the pair when a school yard bully had taken to picking on the two over the last available swing and he'd stuck up for them. Bobby was always good for a laugh.

They'd been christened the three musketeers by their parents. Through thick and thin they were there together, but they couldn't be together now. It was imperative that Parker stayed as far away from them as possible. Any contact was out of the question due to the fact that Paladins were after her and whatever was useful that she had. Parker didn't know exactly what she had that was so important and the vague hints her dad had given her only was serving to drive her towards more fits of confusion.

"If it hurts, if it bothers you that's where the answer is," Parker whispered the words her father had last spoken to her. She ran a hand through her relatively damp curls that hung to the floor.

Before settling down to study the secrets that'd been addressed to her father, and before she'd been left alone she both hesitantly and shyly asked Griffin about fixing her current state. Parker couldn't stand knowing that she was walking around with blood splatters belonging to a stranger who wanted to kill her family on her sweatshirt. It was morbid and made her feel more gross than after she'd tried out for the girl's soccer team. The desire to ask Griffin for something was low on her list of things to do, very low, but she'd sucked it in and had even suggested she stay at a motel instead but he turned that suggestion down, not without a lot of thought though.

"Something tells me you can't quite grasp what it takes to be inconspicuous. Last thing I need right now is chasing after you cause you've got Paladins on your ass." He then threw something at her after having dug around a chest for it. She braced and attempted a lame duck but the item hit her. Parker was relieved that what it had been soft. He pointed her in the direction of what he said was, "The loo." before muttering something about figuring out things fast and telling her not to touch anything, and then jumping off to a place or places Parker could only imagine.

Parker sported a 'Grateful Dead' t-shirt that she was pretty sure was old seeing as it would've been too small for Griffin's stature. Her on the other hand, it fit quite comfortably. The blood decorated sweatshirt was folded neatly next to her because despite its grimy state, in the end it'd belonged to her father. Parker wasn't going to give up anything that had once belonged to her father. Parker groaned in frustration and racked her hand more roughly through her hair.

Whenever she was having a problem figuring something out, usually homework, her mom was the one coming in to calm her down. At the memory of her mom she closed her eyes and breathed deep. Not long ago she'd been rushing around the house trying to get ready for school and appease her mom about having breakfast. She remembered her mother's insistent expression as she held out the pack of pop tarts to her. She remembered how her mother suggested she mellow out seeing as she was in her senior year.

It wasn't fair.

Parker used to complain about juvenile things being unfair. Not being allowed out after eleven, cleaning her room before friends came over, limitations on computer time, were all things that she'd marked unfair before, now she'd welcome them, she'd welcome every single thing she thought unfair about her teenage life if it meant her parents could be brought back. Everything else that she'd complained about in her life seemed so small and so very insignificant. She almost hated herself for complaining about the things in her past. Trying to put it behind her, she forced her eyes to focus more on the letter.

For how long Parker had been doing so, she hadn't known even with all the clocks in the place. Usually when she was engrossed in something time flew by and as she lay looking at the note, adopting the position of a sleeping bat, time flying hadn't been an exception. Dots, so many dots. Dots in groups forming shapes, some not and all the sets divided each other by an operation sign. She felt stupid for not understanding it.

"What do you mean," Parker asked the note. She looked at it as if any second it'd sprout lips and tell her what it said.

"Hey, Griffin!"

The sound of an unidentifiable voice startled Parker out of her line of thinking. She hastily righted herself on the couch and faced the intruder or who she considered an intruder. With surprised eyes she gawked at a tall almost lanky guy looking around excitedly. Parker quickly folded the letter and stuffed it in its envelope. She jumped to her feet, ignoring the nervous feeling that struck through her.

"Griff you here? I─ Whoa!" When the tall lanky guy set eyes on Parker he stopped cold.

Parker tensed. She continued to stare, her eyes taking in his dark almost gothic style. His shirt displayed a rude saying that would've made Parker blush had she not been frightened by his presence. The black baggy pants he wore had mud caking the hems, and the spiked bracelets with the Mohawk haircut completed the intimidating image. The guy was daunting to Parker, there was no question about. She swallowed in hopes that she could find her voice.

"Didn't know Griffin had company," said tall lanky guy. "Company for him is usually a no-no. Doesn't happen."

Parker still hadn't found her voice.

"Oh I'm Jack by the way." He crossed the way coming closer to her with an outstretched hand.

Parker looked from his hand to him and hesitantly took it. This Jack character shook her hand with unidentifiable enthusiasm. He shook her hand with vigor, so much so that Parker's frame wobbled. Suddenly Jack didn't seem so much like a looming person. The goofy grin he gave her with his energetic handshake erased all the stereotypes that usually went with people who dressed as darkly as he did. Jack seemed to radiate energy.

"So…you're a one night stand or girlfriend?"

At first Parker looked bemused, but her brain quickly caught up as Jack's eyebrows rose. "No! Nope! Uh-uh!" She shook her head with more fervor than Jack's handshake. Most oddly at the outrageous thought of Jack's implication her stomach flopped. She brushed it off as quickly as the feeling had come.

"You're a jumper too," Parker whispered her question. She hadn't heard anyone enter trudging up sand from the outside in, hence the whole reason for being startled.

"Yeah, that I am," said Jack. "Since you didn't give a name, I guess you're going to make me guess."

"Sorry I'm─"

"No, no let me guess. I'm good with names." Jack sat down at the opposite end of the couch, unaware of the mud tracks he was leaving in his wake. He faced Parker and clasped his hands together pointing both index fingers in her direction.

"You look like a Chloe."

Parker sat down, still clutching the envelope in her hands. "No."

"No? It's not Chloe, really?" He bowed his head. "You're short enough for a cutie name like Chloe or-or Amber maybe."

Parker argued with his logic. No parent would have the knowledge of what their child's height would be at birth and even if they did, who would base a name from that. Parker kept her thoughts to herself and instead just frowned.

Jack shrugged, "It was just a warm up anyway. I'm sensing your parents went more with the traditional side."

At the mention of her parents she dropped her eyes to the envelope in her hand. She should've been trying to figure out the letter, not playing guessing games with a stranger.

"How does Elizabeth sound?"

"Not right," Parker said looking up and managing a small smile.

"Juliet?"

"Sounds tragic."

"What about Lauren?"

"Again, not right. I thought you said you were good at guessing names." Parker knew he'd never guess right. People rarely thought her name fitted her to begin with. "You know you don't have to try and guess my name to impress me or anything. I'm far from impressible. Not that-I don't mean that I'm so-so stuck up that nothing really impresses me, what I mean is I'm not the kind of girl you need to go out of your way to impress."

Parker knew she was babbling. She could feel herself babbling but it was nerves and Lynn wasn't there to cut her off.

"Is what I mean," she finished off lamely and looked down at the envelope she turned in her hand.

"I wasn't trying to impress you," said Jack with a grin.

Parker gulped, feeling heat creep up her neck. "Oh."

Any further embarrassment that she could generate was put on hold thankfully when both she and Jack were struck by a strong squall of wind conjured up from seemingly nowhere. For seconds she was again startled. Her hair whipped behind her shoulders and she tightened her fingers on the envelope. Her panic was calmed when it was realized that it was merely Griffin materializing before them. He took on a tousled look, but paid them absolutely no mind, his attention focused on something in his hand.

The two watched as Griffin turned his back to them, fumbled with something on a nearby table and stuck what he'd been holding somewhat harshly onto an available spot on the wall. Parker craned her neck to see what it was, but only could make out enough to know that it was a photo. Jack didn't seem to care much anymore and tried to rally back her attention.

"Let's give it one more try."

Griffin dropped his attention from scribbling down notes and whipped around. "Just great," he muttered. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut for a minute.

"Why didn't you," Jack got to his feet and meandered over to Griffin. "Tell me you had a girlfriend. News like that shouldn't be kept to yourself."

"I'm not his──" Parker started.

"She's not my girlfriend," Griffin said loudly.

Jack gave him a yeah right look by raising his eyebrows. "She's more like a…" He was trying to provoke an answer from his uncooperative friend. Like usual, getting Griffin to cooperate was like pulling teeth. Jack had been wondering whether or not Griffin was spending too much time by himself. He guessed he wasn't if Griffin was comfortable enough to break his number one rule; No one enters the lair.

Parker dipped her head to the side. "A…partner?" Jack wanted to put a label to it and it was the only thing to pop into Parker's head. They were both trying to figure out what she had that would prove so vital to Paladins. It was the only thing that clicked.

Griffin scoffed. "Try nuisance."

Parker frowned at the statement. While she could attest to being a bit on the persistent side she wouldn't go as far as to say she was a nuisance. She was acting like any other rational person in her situation would. In fact, she thought she was taking it better than most. Fighting off the urge to cry every few minutes was a feat that required _some _amount of strength.

Parker wanted to argue that things hadn't exactly been easy for her and that she resented whole heartedly what he said, but her new choice of for sympathizing for the jumper who she was sure had not lived an easy life kept her passive.

"An adorable nuisance," Jack said in a complementary way that missed Parker for she had taken out the paper in the envelope and engrossed herself within it. "Where'd you find her?"

Griffin went back to scribbling notes and shook his head. "Stop using your penis for a brain and tell me why you're here. Yes, why are you here because I believe last time you just showed up, I told you not to. At all." Griffin dropped his pen and glared at Jack. Seeing Jack's smile only served in angering him further as he picked up the post it he'd been writing on and slapped it on the wall. Jack ignored him and faced Parker's way, apparently not ready to give up on their little game even though she had.

"Does Allison ring any bells? Maybe Sydney?"

Parker looked up from the confusing dots on paper to pay Jack attention. She shook her head when she realized he was back to trying to guess her name.

Griffin glanced over his shoulder at Jack as he added more scribble to his posted post it note. "Just what are you on about?"

"I'm trying to guess her name. It's a talent of mine. I'm a little rusty mind you." The last bit he added more for Parker's sake than Griffin's.

"What about Rachel? Does Rachel sound familiar?"

"It's Parker. Her name's Parker, now do you mind leaving!" Griffin turned to Jack with seriousness.

"Alright. Alright. I just came here to─"

Griffin rolled his eyes when he observed Jack more than he had been. "And you've tracked in mud all through here!"

Parker watched the interaction between an irate Griffin and Jack on defense. The two were an interesting match for friends. Parker didn't think that Griffin would call Jack a friend though, but she knew he was. Despite all the foul language Griffin was hurling Jack's way; it didn't seem to bother him. In fact he was smiling. She continued listening as Jack bragged about jumping some huge statue that was in the process of being built to some remote island. Parker didn't think she'd ever get used to hearing someone speak about things like that; things that Jack or Griffin would consider shop talk.

Parker continued listening as Griffin told Jack that he didn't particularly care about his ability to jump big things in the rudest way possible. Yes, they were an out of the ordinary match. Two of a kind. Parker frowned in a new found concentration. She looked on at Griffin as he gestured towards the mess on the floor.

_One._

Her eyes then trailed to Jack's blasé figure as Griffin's words seemed to travel in one ear and out the other.

_Two._

It clicked. Her mother had always said if she was stuck on something that sometimes a distraction could be just what you needed to set things straight. She was right, her mother. In this case, the case of the clustered up dots, the distraction in the form of two people with the ability to go anywhere before you could even blink had helped her solve the mystery of the letter. Parker closed her eyes and retained the image of Jack and Griffin, but inserted a ghostly plus sign between the two.

Soon, before her mind's eye their figures melted away, transforming themselves into what the letter contained. She had her answer.

Jack broke up her thoughts as he sat himself down close to her, very close. Parker opened her eyes and peered at him questioningly.

"Look," he whispered, eyes darting towards Griffin who'd gone for a mop. "Between you and me, I keep this guy from being a vindictive hermit."

Parker wanted to congratulate him for a job well done.

"But that does nothin' for the ol' ticker, if you get what I'm saying. Maybe you could help me out in that department. You seem nice enough."

Biting her lip, Parker creased her brow.

"Here," Griffin spat in Jack's direction, coming back he interrupted Jack armed with a mop. "Stop dicking around and clean this up."

Jack stood. "Sorry Griff no can do. You told me to leave, didn't you?" He winked at Parker, "See you around, little bit." And just like that he was gone.

Parker would've been angry with the whole being called 'little bit' thing but her brain was in overdrive at the moment.

Griffin cursed and threw down the mop. He stared at the jump scar Jack left behind and contemplated running through it just to bring him back to clean up.

"Griffin."

Scowling, Griffin turned towards Parker, not at all in the mood for human interaction. Now he had two annoying Americans to deal with. "What," he barked.

"I think I've figured it out."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing one more time, and to PoPCoRn and Happy who I couldn't thank directly. I can't promise the next update will come anytime soon. My job is being really crappy with my schedule. So with having to work every other day from nine am to eight thirty doesn't allow me a lot of writing time, but I will try to write a little every day. And you guys won't find out about the letter until much later, sorry. Until then, enjoy!

Chapter Ten

It was Saturday, Saturday night to be exact. Parker should've been standing by the microwave, watching as the digital numbers counted down to zero and listening to the nice little pops that came from corn kernels as they heated up. She should've been in her kitchen, in her pajamas, preparing a multitude of snacks. In the living room her mother should've been setting up board games, first Pictionary and then later Monopoly. Her father should've been emerging from his basement lab, taking off his trademark lab coat and spewing it haphazardly over the couch.

Saturday should've been game night.

It had been a tradition as long as she was old enough to count to have game night every Saturday. As she got older she started to think that game night was a little lame and only a ploy to get her to stay in, but she never failed in missing one. Now, her Saturday night was not being spent in comfortable pajamas and snacking on popcorn while accusing her father of cheating. Instead she was sitting Indian style surrounded by scattered papers, all with her shoddy scrawl on them. A pencil was captured between her teeth, another tangled in her hair as her hazel orbs studied what she hoped was a solution.

It was a stretch from Saturday night's board game extravaganza, but it was all she could do to keep herself from falling into a dark pit of grief. Working on unraveling the mystery of the letter was keeping her blissfully unaware of her surroundings. An elephant could've decided to stop by and Parker wouldn't have batted an eye. All that mattered was decoding the insanely numerous amount of dots that some mystery person from the Network sent to her father.

Groaning in frustration, Parker bit down on the pencil in her mouth. It still wasn't making sense to her. All she was coming up with was a bunch of seemingly Order of Operation problems, all of which led to nowhere. Parker just kept getting more numbers. Numbers, numbers, and more numbers that didn't seem to lead anywhere. She was consumed by them, composite, even, odd, factors to the tenth power, dividing them, multiplying them, adding, subtracting, coming up with negatives and rounding up.

All of it was making her head spin and her eyes were starting to cross from staring at the white of the paper too long. Parker refused to take a break though, because the sooner she figured things out the sooner her parents death wouldn't be in vain. Granted whether she figured everything out or not her parents' murder would still be senseless. All she could do for them was what she was doing right then and that was uncovering the muck. Using all the intelligence she could muster and throwing it towards revealing the coded message. Once she did that, where she would go from there she didn't know.

Absentmindedly, she rubbed her shoulder. It felt a little tender which was something she paid zero attention to. What was currently being added to her growing pile of fears was what she was going to do long after everything had been done and figured out. She wondered whether or not she'd be able to return to a normal regular average life. All of them, her fears, were thrown in a mental bag to be opened and prodded at later in time. Every once in a while something would escape the bag and threaten to send her off track but for the most part she was trying to keep a clamp on it.

Parker frowned and wrote out another number. A math problem just seemed to make sense with all the operations, and the symbolism of the dots. Why wasn't it adding up? And if by the far chance that it was, what was it adding up to? Parker gnawed at her pencil in pure unbridled frustration.

Something slammed itself down in front of her causing her to lurch back. Instead of looking at multiple papers with her writing on it, she was looking at a neat white Chinese food box. Focusing her eyes up, Griffin was standing in front of her and all her papery mess. He held out a pair of chopsticks wrapped in plastic. Parker took a second to scrutinize Griffin's face and found none of the irritation that was normally there.

"Here."

Parker looked at the chopsticks warily. "Thanks, but I'm not hungry," the pencil fell from of her mouth when she spoke.

Griffin dropped the chopsticks onto a mound of papers and much to her surprise he seated himself across from her. She watched as he swept away some of her clutter uncaringly and settled his own box of food onto the trunk/coffee table. Griffin opened the flaps to his box of food and peered inside. Parker continued watching inadvertently, her breathing slowing to a stop. She had no idea why Griffin seemed so intriguing to her, she had no idea why she felt so compelled to watch him, why he seemed so…

Griffin's eyes darted up catching her staring. Parker gained her ability to breathe again and dropped her eyes back down to her work. She really should've been keeping her focus. Parker pushed aside the white box before her, ignoring the tantalizing smell that came from it and recaptured her pencil. Griffin watched as she submerged herself back into the mystery of the dots, which he found incredibly stupid.

"I know you're all into the revenge thing, but do you think I really enjoy playing the part of your nanny?"

Without looking up, Parker sulked. "Not revenge and where does the analogy of the nanny play in?"

"Twice," Griffin held up two fingers even though Parker was not looking. "I've had to check to see that you were still functioning upstairs."

"Of course I am if I wasn't then I wouldn't be trying to figure this out." Parker still didn't look up. She scribbled a number onto more paper.

"No, no, no," Griffin shook his head and began banging his own plastic wrapped chopsticks against the trunk. The sticks punched holes through the plastic freeing themselves. "That right there is revenge. If I've ever seen it."

Parker paused in mid calculation, her hand seizing up over the paper. "What do you mean?" It was a question she almost didn't pose. Griffin's brutal truths were something she wasn't in the mood for at the moment.

Griffin dug around his box of food with his chopsticks and ignored Parker's hesitant air. He shrugged as if what he was about to say was no big deal. "You plunging yourself into finding out what all this dot shit is about is _revenge_," he said the word slowly. "If you were using your head, had all the lights on upstairs, you'd know before trying to figure out what the hell all this means you'd try taking care of yourself. Last thing you ate were the fries off my fucking plate. And when have you slept?"

Parker bit her lip and momentarily abandoned her work. She knew where he was getting at. It made sense. It made perfect sense, but she wondered why he was saying it. "Why do you care?" The question slipped past her lips before she could stop it.

"Again, don't really want to be your nanny."

"Then don't." Parker resumed working.

"Oh don't be a bleeding dimbo." Griffin lifted a shrimp with his chopstick and stuffed it in his mouth.

Again, Parker looked up from what she was doing. "Huh?"

"You driving yourself into the deep end does me no good," he pointed his chopsticks in Parker's direction. "If you haven't forgotten, you're supposed to have something that Paladins want to get their hands on."

There it was. The reminder of why she was in the very spot she was now sitting in. The reason why Griffin was tolerating her in his beloved lair. She was an asset to his side of this forever ongoing battle between Paladins and Jumpers. Parker let it fly past her head though; reminding herself of the circumstances Griffin had been living his life in. For the briefest of seconds Jack's winking face popped into her head.

Parker decided on focusing more on Griffin's speech than anything that might prove upsetting to her. "No, I-I know _that._ I was more or less confused on- dimbo? Don't you mean bimbo? Not that my curiosity is condoning being called either of the─"

"What? No I meant- Forget it. My main point is that you're no good to me if you bring half your ass to the table."

Parker nodded. It was fair enough and with everything she'd witnessed, all the violence, what Paladins were capable of she found it reasonable enough of a statement. What she was afraid of the most was her having anymore interactions with Paladins. As dangerous as the situation she was in was, she thought that figuring out any code was the extent of her involvement, that and figuring out what it was she had that was of so much value, because her father had no idea about the letter she'd inadvertently had in her backpack.

"All I have to do is figure this," she gestured towards all her papers. "Out and that's it on my end right?"

"You're in it deeper than that, sweetheart." Griffin starred down into his box. "They're after you. Meaning you won't be able to step one foot out there without throwing up caution.

Parker leaned her cheek into her hand. It was the answer she knew was coming but didn't at all want. Maybe how ever much she was involved didn't matter. Maybe the faster things came to light the faster everything would be over. Then she could salvage up some sort of life that hopefully didn't include living in fear.

Parker felt the deep rumble in her stomach and she knew Griffin could probably hear it. He was right when it came to taking better care of herself, though she'd never admit that. He struck her as the kind of guy who didn't need comments like that inflating his head. She watched Griffin stand and chuck his Chinese food box into the trash. He then plucked a random drawing of who she thought was an alright guy from the wall and ambled over towards where a dartboard was hung.

Parker slid the box of Chinese food towards her with disheartened eyes and peeled back the flaps. Her mother hated Chinese food; it was the sole reason her family never ate it. Onto the dartboard Griffin was tacking on his sketch of Roland. "You figured it out yet?"

Parker fingered the chopsticks. "Do you have any forks around here?" She hadn't so much ignored Griffin's question as she did giving her stomach the benefit of the doubt before answering his question.

"Don't know how to use chopsticks do you?"

Parker shook her head. "My family wasn't really into the whole oriental eating thing."

"Well your just gonna hafta make do. Now have you figured those out yet," Griffin asked with a handful of darts and gesturing to her paper stacks.

Parker tried holding her chopsticks with little success. "No, I haven't figured it out, gimme some more time."

"Fine," Griffin shrugged. He threw the first dart towards Roland's sketched forehead. "Fair enough, but could you possibly speed things up? Just a-just a little? Kiiiiiinda want my lair back."

Getting the chopsticks steady in her hand, she tried scooping up the noodles inside the box with them. How a person could eat noodles with sticks she didn't know. Who'd even thought of eating noodles with two sticks? She mentally cursed Griffin for ordering noodles and not asking for a fork. "Where'd you order from where they don't have forks, China," she muttered below her breath, this time ignoring Griffin totally. She stopped complaining as the noodles slipped from her sticks. He probably had ordered from some place in China.

The sound of darts hitting the dartboard reminded her of some of the sounds that use to float up from the basement in her house. She never _really _knew what her father did down there, which was now so blatantly obvious, but there were times when she was younger when she'd sneak down there just out of curiosity. Of course her stealth skills hadn't been too great when she was younger, always leading into her being detected by her father. Sometimes he told her to go back upstairs and other times he didn't mind her company, those were the times he allowed her to play with the mice, or to help by passing him certain tools. She remembered the feeling of usefulness that she used to get when helping her father.

Fighting the ever nagging, never dimming urge to mourn her parents, she abandoned her chopsticks after having failed to pick up her food with them two times too many, and decided to focus on something else. Something else that proved to be helpful in not forgetting about what'd happened, but diverted her attention was what she decided to turn her concentration to.

"So…what's the deal with Jack?" Because engulfing herself in Griffin's life was proving to distract her from the painful memories of her own, she did so without much hesitation. Prying into practically a stranger's business was something she would've never done before, but with the new unwanted turn her life had taken, some things were bound to change her.

"Fancy him?"

Parker took to picking up the noodles with her fingers and grimaced. Not at the fact that she was eating with her hands, but at the mere prospect of having a crush on Jack. Jack seemed to be a nice enough person, but his style didn't exactly make him easy on the eyes; at least it hadn't for her.

She made a chocking sound before answering. "No. I just was curious to know why he hangs around a guy who likes isolation."

"Let's get one thing straight," Griffin said firmly before throwing another dart. "We're not doing that."

"Not doing what?"

"Bonding, trying to make some sort-some sort of a connection. It's not happening. This thing is going to get figured out and then we're going our separate bloody way." His somewhat of a declaration was accented by the sound of another dart being thrown at the drawing of Roland.

Parker wanted to believe what he was saying was just to distance himself from her. She would love to have thought that after figuring out the mystery of the letter, she'd have a home and two parents to run to. She wished that she was just living some sort of revolting dream and when she woke up her mom would be in the kitchen waiting to hear about how awful it was while offering her a package of pop tarts. This wasn't the case though and she had the unsolicited task of settling into what was now her reality.

And if she had to settle she was going to do so the way she wanted, accepting as many forms of distraction as were presented.

"Soooo, Jack's your ally? Best friend?" Parker chose to let Griffin's goals float over her head as she plucked up more noodles with her fingers and fed herself like a bird fed its little hatchlings. As a delayed after thought she added, "Lover?"

Griffin threw his last dart, it landing dead in the middle of Roland's forehead and he groaned out his frustration. "Look, Jack is just some crazy idiot I met a while back. He was trying to rob some bar I was in and sense then he's kinda just stuck around, okay?"

"What was he talking about when he said he jumped a statue to some island?"

Griffin stalked away from the dart board, "He's got some kind of thing for trying to jump stuff bigger than him."

"You guys can do that? Teleport inanimate objects that are large," Parker asked licking her fingers.

"Yeah."

Parker could hear him rummaging around, but paid it no mind. A second later a plastic fork came sailing her way, hitting her on the forehead.

"Use a fork, disgusting."

Parker looked up at him shaking his head and watched as he disappeared from her view, jumping to somewhere unknown.

"Nice chatting with you too," Parker grumbled picking up the plastic utensil.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **It's late and I apologize profusely for any mistakes made. I was lucky enough to have time to get this out. When I'd much rather be writing, I'm stuck working. So, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Figured I'd kick things up a little notch.

Chapter Eleven

"I need to go back home."

Very bravely, very solidly, she stood her ground. With her arms folded across her chest, she forced hazel shaded eyes into a serious defiant stare. It wasn't exactly the same stare she gave her mother when she was having some random disagreement; it was more of a modified stare, more hard and less of the lightness she would normally unknowingly insert because of the impending forgiveness or apology she knew would come later. Whether it was a bad idea or not she really didn't too much know, but what other choice did she have?

She stood there awaiting some sort of answer and wishing she didn't have to come to someone like some sort of child asking for permission. It was demeaning almost, but the least bit of embarrassment that could've been felt, she didn't. She was tired of living without any familiarity. Homesickness was settling in and it twisted her stomach up at night just thinking about it. More than ever she'd been bugging Griffin with small inane chatter about favorite colors and questions about some of the people she knew had to be Paladins displayed on various walls.

Questions and burying herself in an unwanted puzzle wasn't quite enough to stave off the homesickness. Something was needed to help in comforting her, making her feel like her former life hadn't just been driven away. She wanted, no _craved_ something that could tell her she was still Parker Hales, the girl who was consistently late for things and sometimes suffered from absentmindedness and procrastination. Her overwhelming amount of longing wasn't the only thing that motivated her to stand before Griffin and speak what was on her mind. The dark shirt that displayed a certain devotion to the 'Sex Pistols' hugged her upper body and this was where she simply had to draw the line.

"I'm sick of wearing shirts from the grunge band worship phase in your life."

Griffin, who'd been quite enraptured with his video game, barely paid her mind. "Oh yeah? Really? Interesting."

Parker frowned between the guy and what was keeping said guy from listening to her. She took what was a giant step in front of the television and tightened the fold she had on her arms.

"You're the one who said that I needed to take better care of myself."

Still with the controller in hand, Griffin tried peering around Parker's solid form, but got no such luck. "Would yo-could you move out of the─"

"I have to go back to my house to get some of my things."

"Just a little," Griffin stressed with an effort at the inevitable. The sound of his fatality was glorified impressively by the video games realistic resonance of simulated war. Aggravated, Griffin threw down the controller and cursed. Momentarily curious, Parker turned halfway around to look at the television screen. It showed the words 'Game Over' hovering in a ghostly blue followed by the words Try Again, a question mark following enticingly.

"I don't see the big appeal on war games," she commented.

"Don't you know that they're probably still watching your house to see if you get dumb and come back?"

Parker turned back around facing Griffin. "Yeah, that crossed my mind."

"SO…."

"So I thought about it and I realized that I wouldn't be the stupid one, you would because how would I get there without you?" Parker gave a little grin in triumph.

"You're thoroughly succeeding in making me sick," said Griffin.

"Me wearing your stuff is getting a little old, don't you think?"

"I'm not going to let you talk me into going back to your house again. It's not gonna happen. Remember what happened the last time? If you want clothes of your own─"

Parker shook her head, "Don't say I'm s.o.l or offer anymore charity than you already have even though," Parker held up her index finger. "Even though it was _all_ unwillingly I might add."

Griffin shrugged. "So what? You're alive aren't you," he asked, not referring to the lending of his shirts, but one of the one happenings she was referring to when saying all.

Skipping past what could've turned into a full out argument Parker said, "Which is what I'll still be after I get some of my stuff."

Griffin starred hard at her. "What if they're there, which they probably will be, what're you gonna do? Scream in terror or better yet, stand there paralyzed and hope by chance your shit will magically, I dunno, leap into your arms, cuz it ain't gonna happen."

"Can you put all sarcasm aside for a sec? What do you mean it's not gonna happen? Do you really think they'll be as many Paladins as there were before?"

Parker watched Griffin shrug and thought that the second most irritating thing about him was his stubbornness. With glaring eyes she took a quick second to look intently at him. There had to be something inside of him that didn't just care about this thing between Paladins and Jumpers. Maybe there wasn't anything left inside, no spark, but Parker refused to believe it. There was one thing her mom had constantly drilled into her and that was that there was good in everyone. In every bully, in every mean girl, from the kid on the corner to the shoplifter in the stores, there was some goodness in everyone and some just needed a little nudge to bring it out.

Of course when her mom had said things that had to have come straight from hallmark specials, it had all went in one ear and out of the other. Just now was the only time that one had been brought to mind.

"Fine, if that's the case then maybe I'll go shopping right here," Parker put on a little grin and turned, sauntering towards where she knew Griffin kept all of his clothes.

That had Griffin hoping out of his seat, a look confusion covering his face. "What are you doing?"

"Hmmm," Parker tapped a finger against her cheek mimicking some hard thinking. "Maybe I'll just borrow one of your nice black t-shirts." Parker pulled one up to his view.

"Alright I get it," Griffin snatched his shirt from her hand.

"Tomorrow I think while I'm trying to make sense of all the dots and how they're supposed to make some sort of a code, I'll wear your leather jacket." She held up the article of clothing being mentioned. "I think I'll look mighty spiffy in it, don't you?" Right there, she knew she pushed some buttons.

"No, I don't." Griffin grabbed his jacket and threw it jacket carelessly over his shoulder.

Parker raised her eyebrows, expecting her point to be made. She even attempted the 'can I have that pretty please' look she was so used to giving when she wanted something. Mostly, it'd been used on her father. _"Awww, I can't resist those liquid pools of brown and green,"_ he'd say. The corny things he'd say usually made her stomach churn but it was something she gladly endured if it meant she got to stay out an extra hour.

Parker didn't know if it was the contemptible look she was giving that made Griffin relent or the plucking up of his clothes. She figured it was the later, but either way she was pleased that she gotten the result that she sought.

"There'll probably be two of the assholes there," Griffin grumbled with an eye roll. He turned away from Parker. "Three tops, but other than that," Griffin shook his head. "Like I said, they're only there to keep an eye on things."

"Look," there was a bit of guilt seeping into Parker. "I don't really want to go back." Her voice went low. "It's just that─ and my─"

"Save it, sweetheart." Griffin went about ruffling through maps, printouts and other idle things he had lying about on various surfaces.

Parker bit her lip and watched him move about. That odd flop in her stomach came back as she continued to watch as Griffin started opening various drawers. His blue eyes were set on what ever task he had in his mind and his brow was creased. Parker pushed the feeling down in her stomach and took her mind away from it by focusing on rocking back and forth on her heels and curling a finger around a tendril of her chocolate colored hair. It was confusing, the odd feeling in her stomach but she refused to acknowledge it, not when there were big things that demanded the power of her brain.

"What are you looking for?"

"This."

Parker squinted at the metal object Griffin was holding up. "A switchblade? Are you serious?"

"As a heart beat, here." Griffin held out the object to her.

Parker shook her head, staring at what she was being offered with nothing but utter distaste. This was the part of her life that she wouldn't change. She wouldn't assume the violence that so many in that proclaimed war had been devout to. The only blood shed she'd ever seen in real life was when she accidentally cut herself with a kitchen knife. It was the day she'd planned on saving her parents that all of that innocence she had begun to slip away, that everything had shifted itself. She'd been the one to cause a bit of the bloodshed and never again did she want to, even if it was to the very ones who wanted to cause her harm. To do that, intentionally, deliberately, with all the purpose in the world, make someone bleed, injure them to the point where…

Again once, only had she done so once and never again would she do it. Even if it was in self defense, she'd felt like the scum at the bottom of any selectable garbage pale. Parker could recall the way her hand shook when she whacked that Paladin with a picture frame. Suddenly all of it, what was going on around her was all the more real. Taking that switchblade would just be licking the possibly toxic glue on the envelope.

It would change who she was and that wasn't what she wanted.

"Here," a little shake Griffin gave the switchblade. Parker still didn't take it. She could only stand there, feeling as if a lump was wedged somewhere down her throat. She knew she probably looked stupid just standing there, but she couldn't bring herself to accept the blade.

"You just," Griffin, taking her hesitance for the wrong sign, demonstrated how to open the blade. He flicked his thumb over the metal. "And then, see, pops right out." Retracting the blade he held it out to her once more.

Parker finally mustered up a response by shaking her head.

Griffin mimicked her, slowly giving his head a shake and staring at her with half inquisitive half perturbed eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I can't," Parker said softly.

"You can't what?" Griffin's question needed no answer though, as it dawned on him what she meant by 'I can't'. He dropped the hand that was extending the knife to Parker at his side and sighed. This wasn't the kind of thing he was used to. He didn't really have any words to offer, and even if he had, he had absolutely no idea of how to go about saying them.

Parker bit her lip and gave a little shrug. She though that was it. She thought that Griffin would understand where she stood on the whole idea of carrying an instrument with the potential to commit violence, without any explanation and drop the entire thing, forget about it and continue on, but that wasn't to be. Griffin strode the small miniscule distance that was between them and slid a finger in the pocket of her jeans.

"What are you doing?" Parker was taken aback by Griffin's hasty actions. She looked down as he tugged on her pocket and slipped in the knife.

"I told you that I can't," her voice was borderline desperate for him to understand.

Griffin said, "Well you're gonna have to. You can't expect me to watch your back all the time."

Unfortunately for her, he was a stone wall when it came to the matter and whatever qualms she had were going to have to be placed on the back burner. The lump in her jeans made by the knife subconsciously stung against her thigh. Anything, she'd give to get it out of her pocket, but she supposed he was right. He couldn't always be there for her should something like what occurred at her house happened. Of course, she prayed that nothing that drastic would ever happen to her again, but with Paladins after her she was dissatisfied that it couldn't be ruled out.

With her mind leading to insalubrious memories she gave her head a shake. It was best to keep thinking of the goals she set and not about her troubles. It was sardonic though that her troubles had set forth her goals. Parker didn't want to get used to the blade resting in the pocket of her jeans, but she had a mighty fine feeling that it was going to come to that. A defeated look crossed onto her features.

"Come on," Griffin grumbled begrudgingly.

His hand latched onto her shoulder and just like that Parker's feet touched base in her room. The defeated look erased itself from her face as she gazed at the four purple colored walls she spent her childhood years playing in. Of course it'd transformed itself over the years from dollhouses and Malibu Barbie convertibles to posters fit for a teenaged girl and small trinkets of jelly bracelets coupled with little bottles of nail polish. Parker scanned the room feeling a slight piece of happiness worm its way into her. It wasn't exactly how she left it, her room, things had been strewn about and she chalked it up to something having to do with when Griffin had taken her microscope to hurl at one of the Paladins.

It didn't matter to Parker. The plastic glow in the dark stars stuck to one of her walls, the lava lamp in one of the corners of the room and the rainbow colored alphabet letters that spelled out her name on the door, it was all home. It was all home, but the only thing that was missing was one of her parents busting into her room to tell her one thing or another. So along with the small amount of happiness that'd hit her, she also felt the heartache that came along with loosing everything that was familiar to her. Parker took one step further into her room but that was about as far as she got before Griffin caught her arm, stopping her from advancing.

Curls bouncing behind her she turned quizzically Griffin's way. "What is it?"

Griffin pointed a finger towards the window beside her bed. Parker followed his finger and it instantly clicked for her. He transported them to a spot in her room deliberately away from her window so as to not sound the metaphoric alarm. With slight embarrassment she shrugged. "Oh." It was the lamest thing to say, but it was all that she could offer.

"I swear when I talk it just goes in one ear and out the other, with you."

"It doesn't. I listen," Parker lamely countered. She moved around the window, making calculated steps to avoid being seen through the glass.

"Bollocks," Griffin said and ignored the protesting frown Parker gave him. "Just hurry up before we get kicked in the ass."

"Huh?"

Griffin heaved a sigh, jumped on the opposite side of her window and leaned up against her Collin Ferrell poster. "Hurry up _before things go south_," he clarified.

Parker's eyes conveyed her understanding and she nodded. Biting her lip, she made her way to her closet and opened the doors. She didn't know why, but she was feeling nervous as she looked into her closet. The palms of her hands were slowly growing damp with perspiration and there were flutters in her stomach that were rowdy enough to catch her attention. Looking into her closet, she saw that there were only a few sweaters hanging up, dresses she wore only a couple times before─ mostly to funerals─ and a couple of t-shirts.

Parker was perplexed, but only for a minute. The day that she received that frantic phone call from her mother telling her that she had to come home came rushing back to her memory. Her mother had been lugging her suitcase down to the living room. It was the clearest image in her head. She could see it more clearly than the closet in front of her.

Parker reached out and fingered the material of one of the sweaters. It was gray and her mother had always thought gray was a ghastly shade on her, hence the reason why the sweater was probably still hanging up in her closet and not packed away with the rest of her things. The very day she got the sweater she could recall. It was her twelfth birthday and after spending hours in a silly party hat her father insisted she wore, she finally got to open gifts. The sweater was the first thing she received.

It'd been from her great uncle Phillip. Only once had she actually met him, but from the stories her mom told he'd been adventurous. Every year he sent her a birthday present and every year the present was worst than the last. Parker retracted her hand from the sweater. That overwhelming feeling of never being able to return to her old life turned up again.

"Boy the music you've got is a load of rubbish."

Parker knew that Griffin hadn't the slightest clue what he was doing, but his very essence was aiding her from pulling away from the deep tunnel she was trying to not walk through. It was something about his snarkiness that shined light on the launch of all her beckoning grief spells. At hearing his voice she twirled around with a bit of surprise. Griffin had abandoned his post on the wall and was going through her collection of cds. He held the binder of cds in his hands and casually flipped through them.

"Gavin Degraw, Mandy Moore, Christiana Aguilera, Franz Ferdinand, _Pussycat Dolls_," his eyes flicked to her in disbelief.

"What? That's good music your holding." Parker defended as the memories of her childhood slipped away. "Don't tell me when Genie in a Bottle came out you didn't crank it up."

Griffin gave her a deadpan look before returning to her collection. He flipped through a couple more CDs before stopping and pulling one free. It seemed that this CD that Parker possessed was too much of a shock not to bring to her attention. He dangled the circular piece of hard plastic between his finger and thumb. Parker looked at the CD that seemed to be offending Griffin just by the simple action of holding it. The look on his face couldn't be mistaken for anything but disgust.

Parker shrugged. "I couldn't ever give them up."

"Spice Girls," Griffin uttered with skepticism.

Parker, putting on the best English accent she could muster said, "Well they do hale from your very own merry ol' England. Id've thought that would count for something in your book." Parker waited for the usual quip to spring from his mouth, but nothing came. Instead she witnessed for the first time ever while being in his presence, the upward curve of his lips forming what was the unthinkable for him, a smile. And it wasn't just any smile. Griffin hadn't noticed her staring in slight awe as he was stuffing the horrendous CD back into the safety of its plastic shielding. Had he noticed her, the grin would've left his face as quickly as it came.

"Why is that a smile not laced, dipped or dripping in sarcasm," Parker asked happily, dropping the accent.

Griffin closed up the binder of music and tossed it down on her desk. The smile instantly wiped away from his face. "Shouldn't you be getting your crap?"

Parker felt like she spooked away his smile by mentioning it. Her small amount of excitement dropped as if it'd been rained on and she was forced into dealing with the whole reason why they were standing in her bedroom.

"I should but most of my stuff's already packed." She gestured towards her nearly empty closet. "Before─ you know, my-my mom─ and she had my suitcase─ and it's-it's downstairs still. I think."

Her mumbled wobbly words even felt pathetic to her. Parker bit her lip as her eyes traveled away from Griffin and towards her bedroom door. The small amount of lightness that she had experienced only seconds ago was diminished at the very thought having to walk down those stairs. The thought of what she would find when she went into the living room made her stomach nauseous. The very prospect of having to face _that_, what was left of the horrible affair that'd occurred was just as frightening as the night she experienced it.

"I guess I'll just go down there…and get my…suitcase."

Griffin resumed his former pose of crossing his arms and leaning against the purple wall. Parker looked from the door to him expecting something from him, what she did not know. Griffin's blue eyes only gleamed at her. Parker swallowed hard. She didn't want to be brave and go downstairs; she never wanted the opportunity to face whatever demons appeared to her by going down into the living room. All she wanted to do was run and be distracted. Tiny reminders here and there about her life was fine, even striving towards normalcy was quite okay, that was something she wanted, but going back to the place where she caught the very tail end of her parents' demise was the last thing she wanted.

"Guess I'll go get my suitcase." Parker assembled a weak smile and turned putting one trembling foot forward. Parker nodded to herself and sucked in her breath. The forcing of her next step came with a shudder she felt from the core of her spine. Her sense of dread was multiplying and fast. She could feel Griffin's eyes boring into her back as she made her way more slowly than a tortoise towards the door. It was really going to happen. She was going to be in the very room her parents had been murdered in.

"Wait."

Her tread of doom stopped just as she hit the door and at Griffin's voice her eyes slid closed as she tried to steady the wild beating of her heart.

"Wait, wait. I'll go," Griffin's said taking on his signature annoyed tone. Parker noticed it didn't sound as annoyed as usual though.

"Thanks," Parker said softly, turning back around. The last thing she wanted to do was to go down those stairs.

Griffin pushed away from the wall and walked towards the window. Very slightly, he moved the sheer curtains to take a small furtive peak. He wasn't surprised to see the white unmarked van parked across the street of the house. He'd more than expected it. Griffin smirked, this time with a bit of arrogance. "Fucking wankers," he muttered to himself and moved away from the side of the window.

Parker was watching him with wide eyes. "Is something wrong?"

"What's your suitcase look like," Griffin asked paying no attention to her question. It'd do neither of them any good if she would freak out at the affirmation of the Paladins parked across the street.

Parker frowned, and her brow followed suit crinkling up in concern. "It's black, has a teddy bear sticker on it, but there's something up, isn't it?"

Without answering her question, Griffin jumped from her view. Avoiding the window, Parker strode towards her desk and pulled open one of the drawers. Shuffling around the contents inside, she found what she wanted. Her hands gripped onto a photograph of her parents and her at some picnic they'd taken a few years back. It was a gut feeling that had Parker looking for something anything that could remind her of them besides the memories. Right then felt like the calm before the storm. She didn't want to be caught up in a storm of trouble empty handed when it came to the good things that had once made up her life.

This picture, the single photograph was her token and it was the only token that she was going to have time to snag up. The distinct sound of a door opening harshly from downstairs reached her ears. Quickly, Parker stuffed the picture in her pocket and with quickened breath froze, not knowing what to do. She mentally reminded herself of Griffin's warning that there'd be Paladins watching the house. There was a chance the switchblade nestled in the pocket of her jeans could be very well be put to use.

It was the one thing she hadn't wanted to happen, but it looked like it was going to. Her fingers itched towards the knife in her pocket as she heard rushed footsteps clomping up the stairs. The cold icy feeling of fright fastened its grip on her at the same time her fingers slipped into her pocket and she faced her doorway, ready and not ready for whoever was coming. A man in a beige jacket careened his head around as he stood in the hall, another man behind him. It only took a split second before they noticed her in her room.

Impulsively she backed away, her hand curling around the small handle of the blade. All she would have to do is flick the nub on the side and '_click'_ the sharp knife would come leaping out. She could do that. Surely she could do that. Parker bit her lip from anxiety for what felt like the millionth time that day. She started moving her hand from her pocket, still unsure about her ability to use the knife, when she felt the unmistakable jolt of someone taking hold of her shoulder.

"Griffin!" His name sprung from her mouth before she had a chance to process anything.

The two men leapt into action aiming those now familiar cylinder electricity spurting weapons at them. Griffin pulled Parker back rather roughly, his hand gripping onto her tightly. The weapon baring men didn't falter in the least and discharged their lengthy ropes of electricity. Within seconds too fast to count it all happened. Parker cringed in reaction, recoiling back and expecting to be hit with lightening hot surges of electricity but instead she felt her body shift and her eyes were meant with houses she knew to be in her neighborhood.

Griffin had taken her across the street.

"Shit!"

And it also seemed that an unwanted passenger had tagged along, but it was through no fault of Griffin's own. One of the Paladins had met his mark, Griffin having jumped only seconds too late and as a result the hazardable electric instrument that was the Paladins' weapon of choice against all Jumpers had wrapped itself around Griffin's arm, the same arm that had been holding onto Parker; it'd missed her by only a hair.

Parker rotated around to see Griffin fall to the sidewalk, his body shuddering with feeling the effects of an unknown amount of voltage traveling through him, her suitcase abandoned at his side. Instantly Parker backed away from him, her eyes displaying the worry that she felt.

"You stay where you are," came the demanding voice of the Paladin who had a hold of Griffin.

Parker's attention went to the man, her heart almost stopping when she realized what she'd had feared was about to happen. He was defiantly staring at her. His words had been directed at her and he was reaching a free hand towards the pocket in his jacket. Parker felt like a opossum, too scared to do anything but stand there in the presence of what was frightening her, frozen. She didn't know why her imagination was wreaking havoc on her now, but the vibrating feeling in her pocket reminded her of the switchblade there.

"Run."

Parker shot her eyes to Griffin, agonized by the state of him. He was gritting his teeth obviously fighting the pain of being electrocuted. Parker was surprised that he could manage to get out any words in his state. His other arm, free of any electricity spewing cords, was fumbling with trying to free himself. Parker knew he wouldn't have much luck with touching something laced in electricity, but she didn't know too much about the weapon.

Maybe he only had a matter of time before the energy in the cords ran out.

"Run," Griffin chocked out.

That lightening quick thought had her going against Griffin's orders of fleeing him. It was that, the fact that she was too afraid to run, and the bubbling in the pit of her stomach she got when looking at Griffin there in unmistakable pain. She heard the Paladin talking and looked to see that from his pocket he'd pulled out a cell phone.

"Yeah I got 'em," she heard him speak into the phone.

"Fuck, run Parker!" Griffin's voice overlapped the Paladin's and succeeded in penetrating through her shock. The only thing that put forth her feet into action was the gruffness and urgency heard within his voice. Parker turned and at his second command ran; the air whipped through the curly mass on top her head.

Every single bone in her body told her that what she was doing was wrong. One hundred percent of it was. Parker slowed down, her feet halting as her thought process kicked in. The struggles Griffin was going through met her ears and she slammed her eyes closed as if to block everything out. She was sure more of _them_ were on their way as backup, so time had to be of the essence.

Her mother had always said that there was good in everyone. In every bully, in every mean girl, from the kid on the corner to the shoplifter in the stores, there was some goodness in everyone and some just needed a little nudge to bring it out. Those words that had come from her mother whispered themselves into her ear. Griffin's curses sounded a few feet away. He was still telling her to run. The switchblade in her pocket pulsated with imaginary energy.

It was too much of a coincidence the remembering what her mother used to say to her, Griffin handing her the switchblade that led her to make her mind, that this was even happening. It might've been extremely stupid, yet brave at the same time for a completely average girl whose only talents consisted of holding her breath for a record of three point five minutes and being able to calculate insanely hard mathematical equations, to dig in her pocket, this time with determination and pull out the switchblade that'd been given to her.

"_You can't expect me to watch your back all the time."_

Griffin's words were the last to echo in her head before she set free the sharp blade like he had shown her and with calculated precision she heaved it at the Paladin who'd electrocuted Griffin. Three things happened as the small knife lodged itself in the throat of the man's neck, right at the base; the man's partner, the other Paladin rushed from the front door of her house weapon ready, Parker went into a cavernous state of shock and Griffin managed to free himself. Before the other Paladin could get to them and strike, Griffin staggered to his feet, grabbed Parker's suitcase and then the switchblade lodged in his attacker's throat which allowed blood to spurt and flow freely. Griffin then touched Parker's petrified self and jumped.

Once again they were walking through some number of streets, but not so much to loose the Paladins should they follow after. No, because Griffin wasn't jumping them at random, he was not jumping at all. His walk was somewhat slow, weak even and Parker was running on autopilot, her legs only moving to follow Griffin. Now was one of the times where she wanted to do nothing but curl up in a ball. She couldn't believe what she'd just done. By her side, her hands were shaking from the aftermath of her actions.

Parker's state of stun was interrupted by her suitcase being pressed into her stomach. Without thinking, her hand wrapped around the handle in acceptance and she looked at Griffin with worried eyes. They kept walking and Parker couldn't find the ability to say anything. Various places and people were passed, the sky began setting itself to the afternoon and still they walked. Parker caught snips and pieces of conversations coming from passersby and concluded that from their accents that Griffin had jumped her some place in the U.K.

Her concerns were far away from where in the world she was and more with her actions. Parker rang her hand against its hold on her suitcase. With her eyes following the movements of her pink converse, other people were left to move from her path. Her shoulder was beginning to twinge with small bouts of pain but she ignored it in favor of biting her lip, her brain replaying her actions over and over.

"I told you in the beginning that you have to do what I tell you, when I tell you." Griffin broke the long silence that had stood between them.

Parker glanced his way. "I know."

"Told you to run, but did you?"

Lectures weren't needed for Parker's fragile state, especially since she was already beating herself up. She drug her feet as they turned around the bend of the sidewalk. Without argument, Parker decided she'd take whatever harsh words Griffin was about to throw her way. Even though the outcome had saved him, she'd ended up possibly killing someone. She'd done the unthinkable, committed to an act of violence that had most likely taken down a man.

Griffin, spying her glistening eyes decided on giving her a break though. "All anger aside that was pretty impressive, the knife flinging. For a girl I mean."

Parker stopped walking and faced Griffin. "This was all your fault."

"What?!" Griffin stopped his pace along with Parker.

"If you hadn't given me that stupid switchblade you probably wouldn't have _jinxed_ things." A logical reasoning was working its way through Parker's brain.

"Need I remind you that this is two for two on your notch, sweetheart. Every time I listen to you we end up in trouble," Griffin argued.

Parker blinked. She couldn't argue with those findings. Skipping over that fact she brought up another. "It was too much of a coincidence for you to give me a knife and then the next thing I know I have to use it."

People bypassed them, ignoring their small conversation, too much enraptured in where they wanted to go.

"And I-I used it to kill some one."

"Would you keep you're bloody voice down!" Griffin gripped her arm and forced her into continuing to walk with him. "In this little war there are no coincidences, just plain ol' kill or be killed. It's only unfortunate that you had to make that decision."

Parker pulled her arm free of his grip and stopped walking once more. Griffin rolled his eyes and stopped with her. He didn't turn to look at her, already knowing what he'd see when he did. He would see the sorrow of a teenage girl who had the innocence of a child. And not wanting to witness the breaking down of someone so chaste, he instead focused on the onward stretch of walkway.

"Griffin, I killed someone."

"No you didn't."

"I-I did," she nodded trying not to give way towards the emotions in her that wanted nothing more than to come flooding from her eyes.

"You didn't!" Griffin sighed. "I'm the one that killed him," he whispered pointing to himself. "Where the knife hit him, he probably would've lived, probably until I pulled it out." He didn't seem to be able to keep back the smirk from his face.

"Why'd─"

"Because he was a Paladin," Griffin sighed. "He was a Paladin."

Griffin continued walking, knowing that Parker would follow. Whatever guilt she was feeling she'd get over it. She'd get over it because in her situation there was no other choice.

Parker hung her head and followed. She knew he was right. She knew that the Paladin didn't have their best interests at heart. She knew that Paladins were the enemy, the very people who wanted her for insalubrious reasons, the very people responsible for the death of her parents, but she hadn't wanted them to be accountable for taking away who she was and forcing her into being someone she was not, someone who dealt in violence. Apparently, what she wanted from the whole situation she was set in was not to be.

Parker's suitcase thumped against her leg and the tiredness caused by the day's events set in. Her shoulder was beginning to throb more and she sighed. "Can we just go back to the lair?" It was more than time for Parker to curl up and forget about what happened.

"In a minute. Takes a while to shake of all that damn electricity."

Parker put aside her mental stressing in favor for observing Griffin as she walked. The memory of Griffin on the sidewalk in sheer pain came waltzing back to her. Her eye brows channeled the apprehension she was feeling. "Are you okay, I mean because you looked like you were in-in hell." Parker gulped and studied Griffin's face more thoroughly in case he wanted to take on a tough guy front.

"Of course I was in hell; I had hundreds of bolts of electricity shooting up me."

"Does that turn off you're," Parker did a little hop. "Jumping ability?"

Griffin narrowed his eyes at her. "What the hell was that?"

Parker shrugged and in doing so aggravated her shoulder, but again she ignored it. She ignored it because despite what the topic was, talking to Griffin was effectively distracting her. It was pulling her away from the all too near memory of the switchblade throw. "Well does it?"

Shaking his head at her he said, "Can't jump with all that shit going through you, leaves us Jumpers weak. I was lucky to even make it this far." Griffin cleared his throat. "School out yet? Done with all the questions and discussions?"

Parker sent a frown his way but kept quiet. The sounds of car horns and every now and then random people hailing cabs consumed Parker's attention. Anything to keep her away from thinking of how she threw the switchblade. She curled her fingers against the handle of her suitcase more tightly.

"Oh! I forgot."

Hearing Parker's voice pipe up once more had Griffin hanging his head. "What," he groaned.

"I forgot when I shouldn't have," Parker ignored his distress. "Thanks for getting my suitcase." She held it up slightly. "At least something useful came from…" Her voice trailed out and her feet came to an abrupt halt.

Griffin looked at her as if she'd gone bonkers but then realized her attention was diverted elsewhere. She was looking past him, over his shoulder and across the street. Griffin turned, trying to see what made her lose her train off thought and his eyes viewed an electronics store. Their display window had rows of televisions all lit up and active, set to a news station. Before he could react, Parker was running onwards into the street. A car or two was forced to stop quite abruptly to avoid hitting her running body and Griffin followed after her, jogging tiredly to catch up.

"Parker!"

Parker stopped in front of the store's glass. Griffin's voice didn't even register in her ears.

"_The two were said to be kind and thoughtful people. Their friends and neighbors saying that they'd noticed nothing out of the ordinary coming from the home. Police reported evidence of a struggle inside the house, and upon finding numerous bags and suitcases packed inside, have reason to believe that the family might've known someone was coming for them."_

Parker's eyes quivered as she watched the pretty and professional news reporter deliver the information pertaining to her over the television. Her English accent turned towards a serious manner.

"_Friends of the family are pleading with whoever is responsible to bring back Parker Hales, the deceased couple's eighteen year old daughter."_

Across the twenty or so television screens, all of different sizes were one of her less than flattering school pictures. Her smiling face was displayed for everyone on the street to see. Parker backed away from the window, unable to believe that she was viewing this.

"_Authorities are offering a reward for any information on the whereabouts of the young girl."_

Her chest heaved up and down almost wildly. Griffin cursed at the television and shook his head. "It's them. they're after you. Must want you real bad, aye."

When no response came from Parker he gave her a side glance, expecting her to be enraptured with the television he looked back to it, but when he saw that she was no longer paying attention to the television, but to him he turned to her. Her hazel eyes were filled with tears, practically ready to erupt. For what was too long for him, which reached to a minute, she looked on at him and he began to feel almost sorry for her. Griffin opened his mouth to say something. What he hadn't known.

He figured it would've been something along the lines of them moving a bit faster now that her face was being pushed into the general public, but upon opening his mouth he was shocked to silence when Parker swiftly wrapped her arms around his neck. The soft curls of her hair brushed against his cheek and her arms secured themselves around him. In this abrupt hug, she'd abandoned her suitcase, letting it slide from her grasp and onto the walkway. Griffin felt her warm tears penetrate the fabric of his shirt and could think to do nothing. He stood there feeling more than awkward.

His arms were sort of just there, at his side just as confused as him. It was then that the little tiny voice in his head, the one he barely listened to or even acknowledged reminded him of what'd happened earlier. He'd told her to run, to get away but she hadn't, she started to but she hadn't. She stayed. With an inward sigh and still feeling uncomfortable, he ever so slowly and with insecurity raised his arms and loosely let them encircle her.

At the contact he made, he winced. His face displayed his blatant discomfort. Parker seemed all too relaxed with the act of hugging and didn't at all sense his uneasiness.

"It's real," she blubbered into his shirt.

Griffin watched the people passing them by feeling as if everyone's eyes were on him and what had to be his weakest moment, even counting when he'd not too long ago had an arm wrapped up in electricity. Not one of them paid them any mind, but he couldn't help but feel differently.

"It's all real," she miserably repeated.

Griffin nodded, "Yeah." He let one of his hands drop so that he could bend down to pick up her suitcase. The other arm tightened his hold around her back, a subconscious move on his part, but Parker appreciated it nonetheless and stole the comfort he was offering.

"Yeah, I know."

And with that Griffin returned them to the lair.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **My apologies for taking so long getting this out. Again, my work schedule is hectic. Moving on, this chapter was originally around eight pages long but I decided to split it up for an easier read. My thanks go out to _2k9girl_ I hope I can continue writing Griffin up to par and _LouThePixe_ I'm glad you love it. All the rest of you guys know how much I appreciate you're interest in my little story. The next installment will come very soon, until then enjoy!

Chapter Twelve

Parker squinted hazel eyes in irritation. The blazing sun was shooting its scorching rays down onto her pasty skin, making her sweat more than she would've liked. Extreme heat and her didn't mix well, or at all really. On hot summer days there were only two places in which someone could find her and that was indoors where the air conditioning was on blast or outside in cool water a pool provided. So to say that she wasn't feeling very pleasant as she stood in what had to be ninety degree weather was an understatement.

For a moment her annoyance at being out in the middle of the desert led her to regret making the split second decision to throw the stupid switchblade at that Paladin. Of course, she really didn't regret it, but she didn't like what throwing and making the target had brought her. That day after acquiring her suitcase full of necessities, Griffin behaved as if nothing had happened, ignoring the fact that _they _were looking for her and with the utmost persistence. Once her tears had subsided and her breathing had returned to normal he wanted to see whether or not her accurate throw of the switchblade had really been a fluke or not. Forget the awkward hug he'd given; forget the deepening sadness she felt at seeing that news report.

At first she was speechless and then she refused, so many factors playing into her decision, but Griffin hadn't and still wasn't taking no for any sort of answer. He'd went over to the strung up dart board with Roland's face stuck to the middle and pulled out all the darts embedded. Wordlessly he pushed them into Parker's hand, ignoring the protesting expression on her face. She looked down at the darts in her hand and swallowed hard.

At that moment throwing darts seemed silly and was far from what she was feeling like doing. After what she'd went through all she wanted was to curl up and not think about anything else. Seeing that report on the news solidified her situation. Her parents were gone and all of their friends, the ones who cared for them deeply, knew nothing. They were worrying about her and she couldn't do a thing about it.

"Go on then."

Only to appease him so that she could get her wish of curling into the smallest ball possible, did she take up a dart and casting him an uncaring look tossed the dart in the direction of the board. It was set in the small red circle but was off only by a little bit from the dead center. And because she'd cast a succession of darts very close to the center was why her tatty pink sneakers were dusted in sand and the frown on her face seemed permanently planted in its spot currently. The target that been set a few yards away and already had an assortment of knives decorated into it, seemed to mock her as she stood there in discomfort under the sun. She felt sticky; her throat dry and wayward curls clung to the back of her neck.

"This is pointless," Parker whined. Normally, she wasn't a whiner, but as she saw it circumstances warranted it. With the back of her free hand she wiped the perspiration from her forehead.

"It's not pointless."

"It is," Parker argued. "This doesn't help _at all_ with solving what's on that piece of paper in there."

Griffin pointed towards the target set out in the sand. "That, that target right there is what's going to save your ass when you do figure that letter in there out."

Parker shook her head, "How is throwing various knives," she held up the one in her hand. "At the target supposed to help me?"

"Call it practice!" Griffin raked his hand through his hair, a sure telltale sign that he was getting antsy with her.

"I don't need to practice, what I need is to be figuring out all those dots!" Her hand tightened around the knife's handle. More than figuring out the letter she just wanted to be left alone, even if it did mean her thoughts would nag and pull at her. At the moment everything just felt inequitable to her and it in turn angered her. Blots of emotions too big for someone like her were being pushed aside and it wasn't settling right with her.

"Oh for fucksake just throw the damned thing."

Without hesitating she threw the knife at the target and not even bothering to watch to see where it landed, she scoffed passed Griffin, in the process bumping shoulders with him. A diminutively familiar pain passed through her shoulder, but she ignored it in favor of returning inside to where it was cooler. It was becoming more and more frequent; the pain in her shoulder, but because of everything happening around her she was forced to ignore it. She was ignoring it now, overlooking physical pain for some that came more mentally.

Griffin yanked the knife Parker had just thrown and jumped after her. Not at all was he feeling like dealing with a moody girl. He landed inside the lair in time to see her cross her arms and slump into the couch. For a second, just for a second, he closed his eyes to try and reign in any oncoming frustrations he knew were there. Parker was proving to be a complete thorn in his side.

"What has got you flipping your ruddy lid?" Griffin opened his eyes and drove the knife into the nearest surface making it stick up erect and on its own.

Parker glanced once at him angrily before settling her eyes back into gazing at whatever was in front of her. "Nothing," she muttered feeling absolutely low.

"Good then, you can get back to practice."

Parker looked at Griffin once more and didn't enjoy the firm expectant look on his face. "You're kidding right?"

"No," he said stiffly. "I'm not."

"Well I'm not going back out there." There she'd said it. That was where she was supposed to leave it and stick to her guns, but before she could clamp down on her tongue, more came bubbling forth. "How can I when-when my face is plastered all over the news now? How can I go back out there and throw _stupid_ _dumb _knives when I'm supposed to figuring out coded letters and keeping myself alive and away from _ridiculous _secret organizations? How can I when _nothing _about my life is right!"

Her outburst had her standing and her fists were balled up at her sides. She thought she had everything inside of her controlled. Bottling it all up wasn't exactly the best thing to do, but she felt it had to be done if she was to deal with everything. She hadn't meant for it to all come spilling out in front of Griffin. It just happened that way. It was supposed to stay stuck inside, at least until everything was over and done with, but her emotions seemed to have other agendas, and they seemed to want to come out and reveal themselves.

"You done yet?"

At his outwardly uncaring tone, Parker's lips pierced. "Is that all you can say? After all that's happened, that's it? Just some smart assed comment? How's doing what you want supposed to make anything better?"

"Cuz I've been through this, all of it and it's nothing new to me." Griffin adopted a more serious face as Parker drilled anger filled eyes into him. "I've been in your exact same spot! Every thing you're going through has happened to me. And maybe _just maybe_, I know how to handle the damn situation better than you!"

The anger melted away from Parker's eyes and visibly she seemed to shrink at Griffin's heated shout. Never had she been the kind of person who took pleasure or triumph in any sort of confrontation, she was much rather the type who skirted around issues that weren't swimming in pleasure. Natural born pacifist her father would say. What would he say now that she was practicing so that she could sink sharp knives into people with precision?

It was the wavering in eyes that seemed a bit too large for her that did him in. Whatever it was about this girl chipped at what he prided in as a solid barricade from everyone. Perhaps it was because they shared similar stories or maybe it was because she gave off an all too unsullied air about her. Whatever it was had him giving into something he swore to himself he wouldn't talk about if he didn't have to.

"Look," Griffin slid to the floor, his back against the wall and arms resting on the tops of his knees. "They killed my parents, Paladins and because of what I am, what I can do they pull out all kinds of fucking stops just so they can see me dead. You havin' your bloody face plastered over telly screens isn't a big shocker."

Frowning, Parker could feel the very effort it had taken Griffin just to say that his parents had been murdered by Paladins. Never for a second had she thought that all the running and fighting came easy to him, because how could it? How could running from an organization who rightly believed you to be a sacrilege to life ever be easy? There it was, that flutter in the pit of her stomach dawned itself as she watched Griffin's blue eyes stare at his hands. Without thinking an ounce, she put one foot forward and then another until she was standing mere inches away from Griffin.

Timidly, she sat herself crossed legged beside him. For a few minutes she didn't say anything, reflecting on what Griffin said. Her eyes worked over the sand dusting her shoes and her teeth took to chewing on her bottom lip. Griffin was silent too and her guess was that he was lost somewhere in his past. From the moment her father nudged her in the direction of Griffin she was placed outside of her comfort zone and now sitting next to him was no different.

An entire forest filled with indecision she fought and debated over, because a question was just waiting to pass her lips that she'd asked before and hadn't gotten an answer to. It'd been made clear to her that he hadn't liked to talk about his past. She couldn't blame him when he had been handed a bad end of the spectrum. Since she was stepping outside of everything familiar anyway, it didn't matter that she was trying to connect with a person who could unbelievingly transport themselves with a blink of the eye. Parker breathed deep.

"Griffin," her voice was low and carried a bit of hesitance. "How old were you? How old were you when it happened?"

He turned his stare towards her and for a second she regretted asking. Parker didn't wish to drudge up any memories that weren't missed. She was beginning to feel like an awful person for yelling out her frustrations at him and then making him remember what had to be the most horrible time in his life. Hurriedly she apologized, each apology fumbling into the next as she hoped to stave off his anger before it even started.

Griffin dropped his stare away from her and returned it to his hands. "Nine."

Parker was sure she hadn't heard him right. She was sure that her ears had taken that precise moment to stop working because she was having a hard time believing that those Paladins were so terrible as to go after murder children. It was unspeakably despicable. Immediately she felt a sadness leak into her on behave of Griffin. She wanted to inquire further on what happened, how at such a young age he'd dealt with it and just how he was able to escape.

Instead of further questions what came from her was, "You were just a baby."

Griffin jeered at her comment. "I wasn't a baby. I handled what happened to me a helluva lot better than you are now." But determined not to be thrown off topic he cleared his throat. "Anyway, if I could deal with something like this as a kid, I'm sure you can…pull yourself together enough to survive."

Parker looked back at her sneakers and as she continued to chew on her lip, she traveled a finger through the sand at the toe of her right shoe. She wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Parker was too caught up in the fact that he had only been nine when he'd been left to survive on his own. It was a great difference between what age she was now and what age he'd been.

"I'm just trying to make sure you don't get yourself killed," Griffin sighed.

Parker shot her head back up to look at him. At first there was a bit of confusion that wiggled itself into her feelings reflecting onto her face, but as quickly as it came, it left and in its place slowly grew an impish smile. Anyone else would've taken what he said as a passing comment. That simple sentence he'd spoken could've been just something to convince her that he was right and she was wrong. Parker hadn't interpreted it that way at all, instead of seeing the sentence as borderline harsh she chose to see the light that shined through that sentence Griffin spoke.

Griffin looked at her and hurriedly spoke, practically seeing the gears in her head turning. "I mean to say- what I mean to say is so that you don't get offed before that letter gets figured out."

Parker's smile only swelled. "You care."

"What? No I don't!" Griffin hastily got to his feet and looked at her with a spot of disgust.

Parker followed suite and pointed an amused finger at him. Just like that all her qualms had been pushed back to the very far regions of her mind. "You care about what happens to me don't you?"

Griffin shook his head showing to her his objection.

"Yes you do!" It didn't matter that he only cared for the sake of the letter or whether it be for reasons unknown to her; all that mattered was that there was a bone in his body that hadn't been spoiled by the evil deeds of Paladins.

"You care about me."

Griffin rolled his eyes and went back to the knife he'd sunk into a cluttered surface. "Oh don't be so full of yourself, sweetheart."

Parker chuckled and shook her head fully believing in what her thoughts had led her to. Griffin plucked up the knife and offered it to her. He seemed eagerly determined to get away from the subject at hand. At this Parker shook her head and accepted the knife, even though it was a symbol of all things loathed by her. It was now a fact that after their latest rendezvous with Paladins that having to learn some form of defense was a necessary evil on her part.

As much as she didn't want to take up the knife, she understood that it could be her very means of survival. Her father's efforts at keeping her safe would've been for nothing. He'd cared about her and it was only because he had bigger than life goals that she was standing in Griffin's lair. Parker was more than ready to honor her father's efforts, because it gave her something to hold onto that was a piece of him and that was beyond a memory. Parker came to accept that she couldn't possibly not fight and expect to float through unscathed and with a bubble around her.

"You care about me," she said in a singsong voice just to pick at Griffin's nerves.

"Shut it, will you?"

"You care," she batted her lashes at him as she still held onto the knife.

Griffin rolled his eyes and directed hasty steps towards the scorching heat the outdoors provided. His escape from what he found to be her all too happily irritating voice was not to be because her skipping form was following right behind him. Easily he could've jumped, surrounding himself with some place quiet and far away from her, but duty was first priority, annoyance or not.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** This is part two of the previous chapter and I hope it is enjoyed. As usual, feedback would be awesome and I'll try to get back to each and everyone of you guys. Every review recieved is highly appreciated.

Chapter Thirteen

The jubilance in her dissipated once she hit the sun and the seriousness of everything settled back in. Griffin bypassed her to pluck out the remaining knives from the target. She watched as the different sized knives she'd thrown somewhat accurately were pulled from the target and prayed that she wouldn't have to inflict her knife throwing on someone. It was a shot in the dark. She sucked in the notion of having to act on more violence and focused on what was before her. Griffin handed over the knives for her to start the whole process of throwing them again.

She accepted them, giving a halfhearted expression. The weight of them in her hand felt more exhausting than before. There was no use for standing around and accumulating more sand in her sneakers. The faster she threw the knives and appeased Griffin, then the faster she could get back to making sense of all those tricky dots. Her shoulder gave a flash of hurt that had her cringing, but she ignored it nonetheless. Parker stepped up a small distance from the target─ like she had before─ took up one of the many weapons of choice in her hand and held the handle steady as she took aim at the target.

A hand belonging to Griffin stopped her before she could toss her first knife, and quizzically she looked over at Griffin. The flailing in her stomach she refused to believe as nothing else but nerves sounded off at the sudden contact. Her mouth formed the unvoiced question of 'what' but Griffin answered her before 'what' could get out.

"This time we're doing things different."

•°o.•°o.•°o

Parker could barely move any of the bones in her body, but she managed to walk herself back into the lair. With slumped shoulders, skin too moist for comfort and eyes barely able to stay open, she fell over barely making it to the couch. She hadn't just thrown knives at the target like she expected to, no. Griffin had acted like a stringent drill sergeant and she the lowly soldier. In addition to the target practice, for some reason the manic Parker was finding Griffin to be, thought it was imperative that other circumstances be added into the mix.

Tripped.

_With nervousness cast at not knowing what was going to happen, she tried to hold back the expression that reflected her wobbly __tension as Griffin stood leering in front of her, just waiting for her to make the first move. It wasn't at all what she had in mind; in fact her mind hadn't even touched the possibility. The unspoken beckon he gave her to make a move was felt by Parker and audibly she gulped._

"_Okay, clearly you've got some kind of….testosterone thing going on─"_

"_Ugh, just shift your ass already!"_

_Huffing, Parker gripped her knife and started her slow run towards Griffin and the target beyond. "Keep in mind that-that," she huffed out the words as she ran. "I'm a girl," she deemed it important that he know that. "A girl who barely passed gym."_

_Getting closer Parker focused more on the target than the all too keen guy in front of her. She forced her arm back, ready to toss the knife, but before she knew it she was eating sand. Parker closed her eyes and moaned as she tried recalling when Griffin had stuck his foot out. _

_Griffin turned to look at her collapsed body and shook his head. "Pathetic."_

Kicked.

_Parker made a dash around the jumper for her target, feeling a little more educated on what her target practice was going to be consisting of. Not that she was at all happy with it, her mini boot camp. There wasn't much she could do in the form of protest, not when she saw Griffin's point clear as day. Almost there she was to the point where the calculations on the throw would ring clear enough to let go of her knife. Parker didn't get to let go of the weapon in her hand because just when she thought she had it, Griffin jumped in front of her and swiftly kicked her in the shin. _

"_OW!" Parker grabbed her knee and promptly began hopping around, her leaps kicking up sand. "Why'd you go and do that for?" "Ow! Ow! Ow! Totally uncalled for," she gritted out. "I'm not a chick version of Rambo and I've only seen a few episodes of Buffy!" She rambled on as she hopped. "I want some ice cream as compensation, chocolate, with sprinkles."_

"_Sad," Griffin sighed watching her hop around. _

Hit.

_Again, Parker hadn't managed a throw. Instead she felt the makings of a bruise form onto her already aching shoulder. She was already wheezing out her exhaustion as her feet sunk deeper into the sand. Not an inch did she get and she was just about ready to crash where she was, beneath the sweltering and searing sand. _

"_You hit me." Parker glared daggers at Griffin. He stood a little too smugly there in the sand. Parker watched as he only gave a shrug in response and ran a hand through his hair. It was like he hadn't cared that he actually caused her pain and it only served to irritate Parker as she looked at him seconds longer than she should have. She dropped her knife and ran for him very much intending to hit him back and not caring at all about the no hitting back rule that'd taken her a while to learn in kindergarten._

_Seeing the anger on her face and her coming for him sent Griffin into a jump from her wraith, he ended up behind her and watched as his sudden disappearance caused her to fall once more into sand. _

"_Pitiful," he groaned._

Shoved.

_Now she was fuming and more determined than ever to sink at least one knife into the target behind Griffin. Parker was red faced, sweaty and had sand stuck in uncomfortable places. More than ready was she to go back inside and catch up on what being clean felt like. All that it was going to take to accomplish that goal of hers was to get passed that stupid torturous boy with the messy hair and unfair jumping talent and to the glorious target that she was able to sink knives into with a seemingly natural ease. Parker broke into a full out run zig zagging like she'd learned years ago on some nature show._

_She was going to make it. She was in a comfortable enough vicinity to throw the knife. Peeling her hand back, she was just about to release the knife when Griffin appeared by her side from no where and gave her a hearty shove._

_Griffin watched her tumble this time grimacing at the sight of her fall._

"_Terrible."_

Taunted.

"_Seriously? Is that all you've got?" Griffin crossed his arms. His black t-shirt stood out against the light brown colors of the desert. He planted his feet apart slightly and turned an amused look at Parker._

"_I know people who didn't know their ass from their elbows who've done a more proper job of getting a knife in a target than you."_

_Parker, beyond sizzling mad, bit her lip._

"_You've not one backbone in your entire body?"_

_Her eye narrowed and not due to the sun being as bright as it was._

"_What, you gonna spend the rest of your life running from threats, because they'll always be there. The hell with fighting back, huh?"_

_The level of anger in Parker spiked. Whether she was aware of it or not her feet were propelling her for Griffin. He only shook his head at her and jumped but this time Parker was a little more prepared and instead of stumbling into more sand she tossed her knife, finally, finally sinking the knife into the target._

"_You got lucky," Griffin said from behind her. Parker's satisfaction was short lived at his words. A little startled, she tiredly whirled around to meet his disparagement._

"_If this were real I wouldn't count on being so lucky."_

Parker felt as if she'd been in the gym class from hell. She moaned. Everything from her head down to the tips of her toes hurt. She didn't think that was even possible until now. Her eyes closed and the sensation of sleep felt like it would cover her and stay for at least a week.

"I never wanna do that again," she mumbled mostly to herself as she reveled in the comfort of the cool room and staying still.

Griffin gave her a side glance before he sat at his computer and picked up a stack of CDs. "What I don't get is how you're sinking bulls eyes most of the time." It seemed odd to him that a standard girl like her had a talent for hitting targets dead on. He didn't much dwell on it, having other concerns that preceded Parker's peculiar talent. And in any case he was somewhat pleased that she had _something_ to work with, so she wouldn't be a complete liability.

Parker opened her eyes and perched herself up on her elbows against the couch. "Well that's easy. It's all in the math."

"What?" Griffin looked confused as he scanned the label of a CD and plugged it into the computer.

Although she was beyond tired, her eyes lit up at the chance to explain how she applied mathematics to her newfound talent. "From where I stand all I do is try to do a little rough guess of the distance and then I calculate a circumference of whatever the target maybe. Angles then have to play a factor along with velocity and that can get a little tricky. Now what I do─"

Griffin swiveled around and began typing, completely loosing interest in what she was saying. "Whatever gets you there." He paused to flick his hand in her general direction behind him. "Just letting you know that I lost interest four seconds ago."

Parker rolled her eyes. No one really liked when she prattled on about mathematics and quite clearly Griffin was no different. Reluctantly, she got to her feet, unable to stand her disgusting sand dusted covered skin. Parker went over to her suitcase and heaved it up into her hands, her arms burning with fatigue. "Math is an important factor in life you know. Humans as a race probably wouldn't have evolved as far as we have without it."

"And you do know you're a right trainspotter?"

Parker frowned at Griffin's computer concentrating form. "I don't know what that is but I'm taking offense." She then marched her way to the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

"Finally," Griffin said while rubbing his forehead firmly. "Some damn peace." He then turned his attention back to one of three computer monitors.

Never before had tiny droplets coming from a shower felt as good to Parker as it did then. The heat from the water was helping to soothe away a days worth of physical work. The only thing she didn't like aside from the soreness was the quiet. Being by herself when things of conversation and sound were absent made her think and the last thing she wanted for the moment was to be sore and dredging up past memories that uncomforted her. So despite how good being under warm water felt, she washed away strawberry smelling soap as quickly as she could.

Besides, the consolation of the shower was making her even more tired and the last thing she needed was to fall asleep right then and there and then slip and bust her head against the shower wall. She could already hear Griffin's laughter at the imaginable prospect. Reaching her hand to detangle some of her wet curls, the familiar ache in her left shoulder made itself known. Parker frowned, as she moved her hand over the back of her shoulder and for the first time thought that something wasn't right.

The sound of the bathroom door bursting open drew Griffin from his computer's attention. Turning annoyed eyes to the direction he knew Parker would come from, he mentally prepared himself for whatever she was going to bring. He did not however prepare himself for what was brought to his eyes. Parker, dripping wet and in a fluffy pink towel decorated in teddy bears, padded quickly towards him. There were still suds on her in spots.

"Bloody hell Parker!"

"No, no, no," she chanted.

"Don't come over here!" He yelled throwing up his hands to stop her from getting water on his computer. "You're getting water everywhere!"

"You've gotta look at this for me," Parker practically shrieked.

"Can't you get dressed in there," Griffin inquired hotly, pointing in the direction of the bathroom. "This isn't your room where you can just go parading around─"

"Listen! I think there's something wrong with me!"

Griffin shut his mouth at seeing the desperation in Parker's watery eyes. At his lull in talk, Parker pulled the towel more tightly around her body and without missing a beat continued on. "For the past few days I've been feeling a little pain in my shoulder, but I ignored it for reasons obvious. But just now I remembered the day my parents…freaked out." She rather had said that then died. "My dad knocked me out."

Griffin crossed his arms and listened.

"Griffin, I think he did something to me. I remember him saying…saying something about if it hurt," trying to remember Parker looked up as if what he'd said was written in the air. "If it hurts that's where the answer is." She looked back to Griffin. "I know, cryptic much but I get that he couldn't totally spill his guts in front of Mr. Cox."

"So what, you think the answer to whatever questions you've got is in your shoulder?" Griffin shrugged. "That makes no sense."

"A lot of things my dad did didn't make any sense." Parker sighed, "Can you just look for me?"

She saw the hesitance in Griffin. Either he didn't believe her or was uncomfortable with her standing in her teddy towel.

"Look if I could check myself I would. Believe me, but trying to look to see if something is there on the back of you is hard. It's kinda almost like a dog chasing its tail if you think about it." Parker let her arms drop to her sides forgetting about the towel she had wrapped snugly against her body. When it started to slip she hurriedly held it in place. "Or it's like pi, 3.1415926535─"

"Okay! Alright! Fine! Hell, I'll look if it means you'll shut up." Griffin grabbed the back of his computer chair and rolled it in front of Parker, motioning for her to have a seat.

Parker took a seat timorously. "Thanks."

Griffin couldn't believe he was indulging her in what he knew had to be her imagination. She was probably just sore from running around in the sand. "What am I supposed to be looking at?" He took in the top half of her half covered back.

"Anything unusual," Parker piped. "A mark, or a scar something."

Griffin scanned her shoulder. "No I don't─" His eyes locked onto something. He crouched down squinting and low and behold there was something there. Griffin reached a thumb towards the direction of the oval shaped scar on her left shoulder and lightly touched it.

"What is it," Parker asked quietly. At his light touch she shivered, but equated it only to being wet and without clothing on. She hoped the heat creeping up onto her neck didn't spill onto her cheeks.

Griffin knew that shape anywhere. It wasn't just a simple scar, it was a symbol, a symbol that represented the secret organization called The Network. The very one Parker's father was in. Barely noticeable it was. An oval with a diagonal line running straight through it. It was what her father was referring to the day he died. Breathing deep he moved more of his fingers over the scar.

"What is it," Parker asked again, this time trying to see even though it was a useless act.

"Hold still," Griffin ordered calmly. He prodded at the infinitesimal scar more.

Parker held her breath.

A moment too late Griffin felt the air around them shift slightly before the loud voice of Jack was interrupting his examination.

"What in the hell is this?!"

Griffin didn't bother to look up, but Parker started forward and pulled away from Griffin.

Jack instantly froze in his tirade as he saw the two. The flyer in his upheld hand dropped as he looked from Parker to Griffin and then back to Parker. A sly smile grew on his face. "Am I interrupting something? Should I come back later with an interest in details?" Jack smoothed his hands over his shirt filled with rips and safety pins.

Griffin gripped Parker's shoulder and pulled her back into the chair. "What you should do is get me that knife over there you dickhead. Make yourself useful for a change."

At the mention of a knife Parker began to feel panic rise in her. "Knife?"

Griffin ignored her in favor of watching as Jack held up a selection of knives one by one for him to choose from; the very ones Parker had been throwing earlier.

"Will you come on? Yes that one doesn't really matter."

Jack jumped over to Griffin's side after having retrieved the tool that was asked for. "You're not going to kill her are you? I like her."

Griffin nodded. "Yes I'm going to kill her Jack. Spill her blood all over my place."

Parker, having missed his sarcasm lurched in his grip. "What!"

Ignoring Parker once more he stifled the bit of detest he felt for Jack at the moment. "Blimey, will you wash this off. It's got sand all on it. Tell me how am I supposed to use it when it's all grimey?"

"A little impatient aren't we?" Jack looked to his English friend before jumping off to clean the knife.

"Griffin, what exactly are you going to do," Parker asked firmly.

Jack was back with the knife all clean before he could answer. "Yes what exactly are you going to do? Because I'm not helping you dump the body of a missing girl."

Griffin stared at Jack for a second and in turn Jack looked to the paper he'd brought with him that was now lying on the floor. Parker's picture was splashed on it. Griffin shot Jack a 'later' look and snatched the knife from him.

"There's something there," he said. "I'm going to get it out."

Parker screeched, "What!" but before she could jump from the seat Griffin held his hand down unyielding on her shoulder.

"No way, if there's something there then we have to go to a hospital, let them get it out. They've got licenses to do that sorta thing. What've you got? I mean besides a slice happy hand? Have you ever done something like this," she babbled on. "Have you ever extracted something from a─ OW! OUCH!"

The instant she started to feel a sharpness followed by severe stinging sensation on her skin, her protests stopped. She bit down on her lip and clenched her fingers together as she realized that Griffin had taken to cutting at her skin. Parker felt blood slid down her back and closed her eyes. Pain radiated through her, but before it could explode into something that could make her see stars it began to dull. She could feel Griffin's fingers poking at her for a second and then it was over.

Parker got to her feet in a flash and turned looking expectantly at Griffin. There was blood on his fingers, but it didn't seem to bother him much, neither Jack. The two were engrossed in what was in Griffin's grasp.

"What," Parker whispered to Griffin. The fact that she was baffled showed in her voice. She felt light headed almost as she looked on at the small object between Griffin's index finger and thumb. Parker tried taking a deep breath and ignoring the stinging in her shoulder as she formed her next words. "Wh-what is it?"

"It's a computer chip."

Parker stepped to Griffin's side and looked intensely at the chip, not believing that was in her, just over her shoulder. A new piece of the puzzle was brought to light.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: It has been an extremely long time. For that I apologize. My muse never left this story but a truly eventful life has held me back. If anyone is still intrested here is a brand new chapter albeit short. It was all I had time to post with work ever looming. Forgive the many gramatical errors as it is with bleary eyes that I sifted through it and I didn't have too much time to even get this up. I feel just terrible letting it go this long with no updates and getting alerts of how many people have actually added this story to their watch list. Anyway, please enjoy. I'll try to get the next chapter up asap.

Chapter Fourteen

For the sixth or seventh time since sitting in the chair Parker jerked forward, not at all appreciating the sting radiating in her shoulder. The antiseptic solution being applied to the spot where apparently a computer chip had resided was proving to be just as painful as getting the chip taken out. Her vintage Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers t-shirt was half on, her left arm free of the material that was scrunched up and perched away from the lesion and the other was snugly in its sleeve. Parker winced once more at the stinging that the cold solution on a cotton ball brought. She squeezed her eyes closed and stomped her foot.

"Would you stop being such a baby?"

"I think her response is pretty reasonable all things considering."

Parker tried focusing on the two voices in the room instead of the ache in her shoulder.

"All things considering you don't even know what the hell's going on!"

"Which is why I came here Griff!" Jack snatched up the paper he'd come bearing and held it up for Griffin to look at. "Tell me the reason why little bit here is stuck to the sides of buildings everywhere and why I just saw you pull a computer chip from her!"

Griffin tossed the red stained cotton swab he'd been using into the trash can before turning to look at Jack. He eyed the 'missing' flyer in the other jumper's hand and quickly lost interest. "Huh," Griffin said as he reached for another cotton swab.

"Huh? That's all you have to say is huh?" Jack shook his head and let the flyer slip from his hand. "Why are Paladins looking for her?"

"It's none of your business, so mind it," Griffin shot at him before turning for the bottle marked Iodine.

"None of my business? Griff, I thought we were passed that stage."

Griffin eyed him with a look as he doused the cotton swab. With a shake of his head, Jack tried convincing Griffin of why he should be involved. From the half amused half serious expression blended onto his face, it hadn't seemed so uncommon, attempting to get information from Griffin.

"Any business with those assholes is my business." Jack shot contrite eyes in Parker's direction. "My apologies little bit, I don't usually swear in front of the ladies," Jack said.

"It's okay," Parker shrugged with her good shoulder. "And for the record he's right," she said turning to Griffin.

"No one's asked you have they," Griffin barked.

"Well I'm totally digging her input," commented Jack.

Parker tried avoiding looking at the handout Jack had brought with him, but couldn't. The missing sign printed in bold lettering called to her, forced her into that spot of her mind that she liked to avoid thinking about. Images of her mother and father briefly flashed through her head. Not wanting to fall into a pit of misery, she focused more on what took her away from that dark spot. The arguing around her became more pronounced to her ears. She watched Griffin jab the cotton swab in his hand at Jack's general direction, his voice becoming more louder than it'd been moments before.

"Remember Vancouver? Remember how much fucking attention you drew to not just you but me too?"

"That was different. That was just a little fun," Jack looked pointedly at Griffin. "This is more serious. I can tell the difference you know."

Griffin chuckled in sarcasm. "You can tell the difference, yeah right." He turned back to Parker, just about to continue with disinfecting her wound when she recoiled before he could do anything. "Come on, I haven't even touched you."

Parker scoffed, "I beg to differ." Ever since she was a kid she'd been a bad patient. Everything from getting scraped knees taken care of to getting shots, she'd make a big fuss over. Nothing had changed since then except there weren't as many crocodile tears being shed whenever by chance she got hurt.

Griffin shook his head and wiped at the lesion, paying no attention to Parker's constant winces.

"You two should quit with the arguing," Parker said through gritted teeth, trying to ignore pain emitting from more than one level. She rocketed back to the conversation that'd been blazing on between the two. Parker hadn't been one for arguments and it was dreaded when she actually got into them.

Jack, having for a split second forgotten her sitting there, strolled to her side and crouched to her level. "Maybe I'm going about this wrong," he said in a questioning voice as he glanced up at Griffin and then brought his focus back to Parker. He studied her face taking in the fatigue and overall general tiredness he saw in her features.

"Little bit, I know whatever you're going through must to be tough-"

"Oh save it!" Griffin groaned, but it didn't stop Jack.

"But," Jack continued. "You seem like the kinda girl who's got a level head. You know how smart it is to have someone else on your side. Safety in numbers right?"

Parker looked into Jack's brown eyes not able to tell if he was just eager for the action that he thought would come should he get caught up in her situation or whether or not he generally cared. To her it seemed like a mixture of the two, and maybe it was his curiosity that was getting the best of him. She liked to believe she was a good judge in character, but she'd only known Jack less than a couple hours.

"Tell you what," Jack said sensing her hesitance. "Why don't you kick back, watch a movie or some addictive television and think about it while I get you something to help you. Cake or a milkshake maybe?"

"You can't be serious about that," said Griffin tossing the used cotton swab and grabbing at a bunch of band aides. "I just pulled a computer chip from her!"

"Excuse me for trying to give her a reason to I dunno, get her shit together. Maybe forget about things for a little while!"

"I hate to break it to you but it's too ruddy late for her to forget!"

Parker sat quietly, and it was as if the energy was sucked from her. The simple sentence from Griffin seemed to ground her to the point where everything stared her in the face. Her predicament had only dug itself deeper and she had none of the answers. Everything was still all a blank; a frustrating, nerve racking, and confusing blank. She felt the band aid being placed on her shoulder and this time barely flinched at the stinging.

"Why don't you fuck off alright," Griffin stressed, throwing away the band aid papers and facing Jack, leaving no room for argument. "I've got things under control."

"I understand your want to take care of your girl here, but why can't you at least fill me in on the situation?"

Jack's lowly grin made Griffin snarl. Parker chose to ignore the two of them. She didn't want to dive into whatever the two had going. She found herself agreeing with Jack. It was going to take more than just the two of them to figure out things and with everything that was unfolding, she thought it was an excellent idea to have someone backing them, but if she'd learned anything about Griffin in the time she was spending with him it was that he was mulish, especially when it came to the things he claimed expertise in.

For all Parker knew, Griffin could have a very good reason for keeping Jack out of things. After all he had said Jack had tried his hand at robbery, not an honest feat in Parker's eyes. Maybe he wasn't trust worthy. Whatever it was, she didn't know, but she did think Jack was right though, there was safety in numbers. Parker stuffed her arm back in the sleeve of her shirt, ignoring the sharp nips that radiated through her shoulder and stood up.

"I'm not filling you in on anything! _Cake and milkshakes_, that's what tells me you're not one bit serious." Griffin began putting away all his first aid materials. The fact that he was fed up with the other jumper was blatant. "You were trying to manipulate her you prat. She maybe deftly annoying but she's not stupid and neither am I."

"Did I say that either of you were?" Jack followed Griffin as he moved to put away the unused cotton swabs, bottle of antiseptic and band aids away.

"Okay, say for the sake of saying that I did tell you everything," Griffin shrugged putting the final object in his hand, the bottle of Iodine up carelessly among mounds of paper. "Say I tipped you off to everything, what'll that have done for me?" Griffin looked both heated and expectantly at Jack, his eyebrow arched in a mock curiosity.

"Would you," Griffin shook his head. "I dunno tell me what I've done wrong up to this point? Tell me what I'm supposed to do? What was I supposed to do? Tell me Jack cuz I'd really fuckin' like to know."

"Will you cool your jets man," Jack urged holding up his hands in a defensive mood.

"Well, I'll tell you _what _I'm doing right now. I'm giving up my space, sticking my neck out every time I turn a bloody corner, up to my knees in more shit than I was before and-and now I'm adding pulling junk daddy dearest left in her and that's not exactly helping in figuring things out!"

Jack smiled a mischievously devilish smile. "Why Griffin, if I didn't know any better I'd say you sound in over your head."

Griffin guffawed. "You wish. I'm not in over my head. This is me just telling you not to add your name to my list of problems."

Trying to drown out the bickers coming from Griffin and the defensive yet borderline humorous annotations that came from Jack should've been hard for her, but they weren't. The chip holding such mystery within itself sat idle by Griffin's jerry rigged super computer, calling to her. It stole her attention from the two males caught up in the hub of an argument and forced her into a state of mind that involved a deep concentration. This chip had to carry something of high importance, so high in fact that her father had no other choice but to embed it into her. Parker stepped towards it until she was within arms length of it.

It was small, so small and almost hard to believe that it was what was bothering her. Parker didn't know how to feel about what her father had done. He'd kept so many secrets from his family and inadvertently brought them into it all. By all means Parker, didn't have to do a thing to continue on with her father's cause, but it was what she felt was the right thing to do. No matter what her father had done, where his beliefs had taken him, she loved him. Parker loved her dad with every fiber of her soul, her mother too and all she wanted was to right things.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Very diffidently Parker picked up the computer chip. There were still remnants of her blood dried and stuck to the silvered body of the piece of technology. It was eerie almost, knowing that it'd had been with her _in her _all this time, another piece of a screwed up puzzle. Her eyes closed as she felt the metal of the computer chip between her fingertips.

"Do you really expect to accomplish anything like this?"

Her voice was barely enough to cut through the ongoing arguing, but it did. It managed to penetrate its way through to make itself heard. Jack was the first to cut his words short and right after Griffin followed suit. The two of them looked at her, Griffin with a more aggravated expression than Jack.

Parker blew breath from between her chapped lips and turned towards both Jack and Griffin. Her eyes were still cast down looking at the small chip her fingers had a tight hold on. Never before had she felt so tired, so washed and worn out.

"Do you really think that this entire thing can be resolved with just the two of us?"

Before Griffin could give some passionate answer as to why it all could be solved without bringing Jack into things, Parker held up the chip to them. Her eyes struggling with their battle to hold in tears that threatened to drop. She didn't want to cry anymore. With everything happening around her, she felt weak as it was.

"I have a feeling that this chip just complicated everything a whole lot more and I don't think two heads'll be enough."

Griffin shook his head. "You don't know Jack."

"I don't care. If he can help is all that matters to me right now."

Griffin stared her down, looking none too happy about what'd just came from her mouth. Parker wasn't about to back down from this. With Jack she felt that maybe efforts towards solving things would be doubled. Maybe she could get somewhere with the extra brain power. Parker's view wavered from Griffin to take in Jack's devious grin. She hoped that he had some sort of brain power to bring to the table; she hoped that Griffin wasn't right about not bringing Jack into things; she hoped he wasn't all juvenile antics and silly comments.

"You know what, fine!" Griffin pointed a finger at her, "But if he screws up it's on you." Then Griffin turned to Jack. "And if you screw up you're dead, you hear me?"

Parker gave the barest trace of a smile while Jack laughed. "Why do you always shoot right to killing when you threaten me?"

"I find it more effective," Griffin shrugged. He turned his back to the two of them and began ruffling through stacks of papers.

Parker focused her attention back to the mess she'd made early on, the trunk serving as a coffee table. Borrowed pencils, scattered papers, balled up ideas and equations that made absolutely no sense. All of her frustrations were right there for her to see, reminding her that she'd gotten no where. Despite her sadness, shock, borderline helplessness, all her aggravation, and being beyond tired, she was ready to dive back in. Squaring her shoulders albeit somewhat painfully, she went over to the papery mess and drop down to her knees.

"And little bit," Jack said still smiling but this time in more triumph, more so than what was warranted. "You truly are a beauty ruling over the beast." Jack bowed elaborately, which looked ridiculous with his stiff Mohawk and purposely ratty jacket.

Parker didn't pay him any attention though; she was already caught up in the many papers before her. One of the pencils that'd been amongst the clutter was already nestled in her hand and her head was cradled in the palm of her free hand. Jack straightened his posture once he didn't hear anyone giving him comments in neither a positive nor negative way. He squinted at Parker, noticing the droop to her eyes and then glanced Griffin's way. Griffin seemed to be wrapped up now in whatever his computer monitor was displaying after abandoning a hasty search among folders and papers. A look of deep intenseness was plastered on his face.

Jack looked back to Parker. Every couple seconds her eyes dropped down and she'd give her head a shake to focus more on the papers in front of her. Jack knew the signs of exhaustion when he saw them. The start of dark circles under her eyes, trying to hold back multiple yawns, rapid blinking, he knew them all. Jack opened his mouth about to comment on the fact that Parker looked a little like death warmed over, when Griffin interjected.

"Jack." Griffin waved him over, his voice lower than normal. When it looked like Jack was more for spewing out what was on his mind, Griffin sent him a daunting and impatient look.

Complying, Jack went over towards Griffin, but not before looking back at Parker's busy form. "I think I'd like to know what the hell is going on now."

Standing, Griffin shook his head, "Not yet. I need you to take Parker with you, a restaurant, a park, your place whatever."

Any light heartedness Jack had before displayed was gone and in its place was concern that was a complete rarity for the guy sporting the like for dressing in all black.

"Don't start okay. I just need you to watch her for a bit," Griffin's voice was lowering itself with every word that he spoke. He was standing closer to Jack than what was normal and his eyes shifted beyond Jack to look at Parker's turned back. In the time Jack had known Griffin, he'd never seen him acting the way he was. Being demanding and distant was the normal for him, but what he was displaying now, sprinkles of poorly hidden yet faint traces of desperation mixed in with anxiousness it was way off base when it came to Griffin. Jack had to frown.

"Little bit is a big girl despite her size. I'm sure she could watch herself," it was a statement that came from Jack that he didn't too much believe, not when Parker seemed to be in some kind of trouble. He'd only said it in attempts to goad some sort of information from Griffin.

Griffin glared at Jack, not wanting anymore trouble from him, not when he already had enough to deal with. "Enough with the prodding," he seethed. "I haven't gotten time for it." As an emphasis to his angry comment he checked one of the clocks displayed on the wall and then quickly looked Parker's way. Once he was positive she wasn't listening in and still caught up in trying to figure out the ever confusing dotty mystery he took up his irritated stare at Jack.

"Look since your not letting this go all I can tell you for the moment is that I've put ears out on a certain Paladin and right now, _just now_ I got a hit and right now messing around with you is going to make me miss my chance."

"Why can't you just tell her-"

"Because I very well can't!"

Parker jerked at the loud tone that came from Griffin. Truthfully she was on the verge of drifting off when she'd been startled by his voice. Parker turned around, her head full of still damp curls from her earlier shower flew behind her. Seeing yet another stand off between the two with the amazing ability to teleport aggravated her. Energy that could've been spent doing something productive was being spent arguing.

She pulled herself to her feet and meandered over to the two of them. Both intimidated her to a certain extent with Jack's tall gangly build and clad in his signature dark attire and Griffin's haunting attitude and short fuse, but at the moment she put it all aside and on went her brave face mustered for her 'what in the world is going on' question. She stepped up before them and wearily rubbed her aching shoulder. "You can't what?" Parker directed her question towards Griffin.

"Nothing," he quickly shot.

Jack may have been one to push a few envelopes but he knew where to draw the line. Rolling his eyes at Griffin, he turned Parker's way and let him lighten himself before addressing her. "Hope you like clutter and the faint smell of pizza because it's to my place we go." He stuck a thumb at Griffin. "The English gentleman here wants me to keep an eye on you. Why I have no idea on _still_."

Parker frowned at Griffin. "How come I have to go with him? I don't need a babysitter."

Griffin smirked grimly. "Let me the one to beg to differ."

Parker wasn't finding any amusement in this at all. "Griffin what's going on?"

"Like I said its nothing." There was impatience seeping from his every word. Griffin slid passed Parker quickly muttering to himself.

"If it's nothing then I can stay here and try to figure things out, now can't I?" She turned and watched him go through drawers.

Griffin stopped, his patience now worn and stretched too thin to be anything else but cantankerous. "No! You can't!" He slammed the drawer he'd been going through and flashed angered eyes at Parker. "Why do I have to keep reminding you that you're supposed to be listening to me? For once_ just once_ would you listen? No arguments, no questions," Griffin shrugged almost in defeat. "Just listen?"

Parker swallowed. After that she found that she couldn't say much of anything. After seconds that seemed too long to be called seconds, she nodded, just barely. Griffin saw it nonetheless and said, "Good. Great. _Excellent._" He then strolled over to the mess Parker'd made and collected up as many papers as he could grab and then thrust them into her hands. "I'm going to be fuckin' late now."

Parker couldn't look him in the eyes, even as he pushed her papers into her hands. For some reason she felt betrayed and like she was an inanimate object just being passed onto someone else without a care. She felt Jack at her side, but she was already drowning out her surroundings, her eyes focused on the papers in her hands.

Jack nodded towards Griffin who was waiting for them to take off. Griffin looked at Parker, her tired stature and almost pitiful expression doing something to him that it shouldn't have. Looking at her was doing something it _really _should not have. He was almost angered by this fact, but it was a useless effort that he found himself quickly giving up on. Seeing Jack readying himself to go Griffin surprised both himself and Jack by quietly uttering the command to wait. Parker still was staring at the work in her hands.

Griffin glanced at her once more and closing his eyes briefly he sighed. "Be careful will you." It wasn't so much of a question as it was a demand.

Jack swallowed and nodded before putting his arm around Parker and disappearing from sight. Griffin let out a breath and he too disappeared.

°o.°o.°o

Parker was a nuisance. She was just some girl who before the real problems of life had dropped itself onto her, had her head stuck in clouds. Rose colored glasses had covered her eyes. She was naпve, carried her heart on her sleeve, and seemed to sometimes love avoiding what was obvious, what was right in front of her. The smell of her peach mango soap had seemed to linger all around the lair and her knack for leaving papery messes all around mixing into his own papers annoyed him to no end.

So with his ever growing list of why he was finding Parker incredibly annoying there shouldn't have any remorse felt for not telling Parker about what he was doing. Having to constantly mind her, make sure she wasn't either digging herself into a hole that only she could jump into or not getting herself killed, should have been enough to wipe away any niggling that stupid little voice inside his head was giving him. For years he hadn't listened to it. How could he when he was caught in the middle of a war he hadn't started and had begun way before his time? Hated, absolutely hated did he to admit that lately, the voice in his head had been getting steadily louder.

And since he hated admittance of the fact, he ignored it plain and simple. There was no other option for him. Griffin O'Connor refused to even entertain the notion that one Parker Hales, a shrimp of a girl too soft for his line of work was having an effect on any part of him, even the part of him he paid entirely no real attention to.

He didn't care about Parker above what was required to get things done. Not at all and as much as he kept he saying it, the voice that every now and then nudged him to do something decent, something good said otherwise. Griffin shook it off. He was insistent that the only reason he cared was for his sake and his sake only, even if the voice whispering in his ear said quite the contrary. Even if his actions were floating towards the opposite of what he was convincing himself of.

His footsteps were silent against the wet pavement. They were calculated and careful as he watched or better yet stalked his current target. It was late into the night and with the darkness shadowing him along with the tall hedges he lurked behind, he knew he wouldn't be seen. He'd done this numerous times and hadn't let something slip in the longest. Griffin predicted things would go smoothly, the information he tracked down was creditable, enough so to put him in gear.

Already, there was so little to go on in this whole Network mystery and any hints, tips or ideas received or he could think of, he took. Anything to get things back to the way they were supposed to be. Griffin watched as his target approached the front door of a neatly groomed two story house; the front porch's light illuminated the unsuspecting figure. In that split second it was going to be now or never. He couldn't let who he was after walk through that door.

Griffin jumped.

There was no hesitance, no more mental debates, only what had to be done.

Almost ghost like he appeared behind this figure. He could hear the key turning into the lock and before it could get any further, Griffin tapped the unnamed person roughly on the shoulder.

"Fancy sparing a minute?"

At the sudden announcement of himself, the person turned around, clearly startled and fumbled for something at his hip. It was a futile attempt on his part because before the man could even reach towards what he was going for, Griffin pulled back his fist and landed it against the man's jaw. Griffin gripped the man's suit jacket and took him away from the neatly manicured home.

°o.°o.°o

Parker looked around Jack's apartment. It was surprisingly neat for a guy who lived alone. There were odd little knick knacks sprinkled here and there almost on every surface. They were all of a dark variety. Parker walked up to one on a shelf and stooped down a bit to eye it. It was a little figurine of a man playing an electric guitar, very normal for what it was; only there was a metal spike protruding from its head.

Straightening, she continued eyeing the rest of the apartment. True to his word there was a faint smell of pizza lingering in the air, but it wasn't anything grotesque about it. With the lights dim- Parker assuming it was the way Jack liked it- throughout the entire place, it felt almost comforting. Comforting was something that she didn't need at the moment. What she needed was to get cracking at the multitude of notes in her hands.

"Welcome to my humble abode," Jack smiled as he crashed into an overstuffed leathery arm chair. "Mi casa es su casa."

Parker turned away from the odd model and searched around for somewhere she could set up shop. She wasn't going to think about Griffin and what he was doing. She wasn't even going to wonder why a person like Jack collected figurines. All that she was going to be doing was pondering and trying to figure out the dots, no matter how curious she was about what Griffin was up to, no matter how much she couldn't shake off the bit of hurt she felt when Griffin borderline snapped at her. Parker spotted a table off in the little kitchen and made her way to it, completely ignoring Jack's welcoming comments.

She spread her papers out and took a seat. Jack stood from his seat and made his way into the kitchen. Curiosity once again peaking he sat across from her at the circular table and eyed all the papers. Parker paid him no mind, too busy rearranging the papers that Griffin had thrown out of order. For a minute there was a stagnant silence between them, a silence of which Parker was unaware of.

Jack cleared his throat a little. Parker still shuffled through notes. Jack leaned forward. Parker continued rearranging the papers. Jack raised his eyebrows and cleared his throat much louder than before. When Parker still didn't give into any signs that she'd be paying him attention any time soon, Jack just decided to go ahead and ask what was on his mind. It was hard for him not to after all that'd happened at the lair.

"So what is going on?"

Parker sighed and looked up from her papers. The puppy dog look Jack was giving her wasn't what made her relent. It was the fact that he needed to be clued in that made her abandon her papers for a moment. He was kind enough to let her stay in his home for the moment, at least until Griffin was finished doing whatever it was that he was doing. Jack was compassionate enough to want to throw his hat in the ring with them. Telling him was right. s

Swallowing, Parker slid her muddle of papers across the table towards Jack and ran a hand through her hair. Jack accepted what was being offered and looked at Parker's confusing scribbles. He shook his head as the more he tried understanding, the more he was confused.

"They're just a bunch of dots." Jack slid the papers back to Parker.

"No, they're not." Parker slid them back. "These and that chip back there is all I have left of my father."

Steady hazel eyes locked onto him and tried their best not to mist up at having to mention her parents. Parker took a deep breath and plunged into the story of how the whole big mess came upon her. Jack listened intently as she bravely stumbled through what happened. Parker was glad that he hadn't interrupted once while she spoke. As she rambled on, she didn't think that if he interrupted she'd be able to continue.

The palms of her hands were sweaty for some reason as she explained why she was forced into staying with Griffin. She remembered her father pushing her towards Griffin, his actions forceful and serious. It had been one of the few times she'd ever seen him so serious, so scared. Now, as she told her story to Jack, she questioned the judgment of her father. Had it only been out of desperation that he begged Griffin to take her, or had he truly trusted him?

Things could've turned out a whole lot different had in those ticking seconds that the Paladins were invading her house, her father chosen differently. Not of her free will, the image of Griffin popped into her head. He saved her. He was continuing to save her and it didn't really matter that much to her how many grumpy things came from his mouth, it were his actions that were continuing to dilute his rough exterior to her eyes. Maybe, just maybe she was beginning to see him as sort of her hero, a savior of some sort?

Maybe that was why she felt a little hurt when he refused on telling her what was going on. When she finished telling Jack all he needed to know, she stared at the wood patterns in the table. Parker wasn't so much waiting for him to say something as she was pondering on the time spent with Griffin.

Jack, finally ready to speak, cleared his throat, this time out of necessity. "That's some secret you've got there little bit."

Parker rubbed the patched up spot on her shoulder and grimaced. "Tell me about it."

"So you're dad left you with this-this enormous responsibility of keeping The Networks secret."

"Uh huh, a secret that I don't even _know._" Parker sulked.

Jack looked at Parker's down turned lips and heavy laden eyes. He cursed for being such a sucker for a girl in distress and held in the sigh he thought would only make him more of a pushover. "Look, this'll all get worked out."

Parker didn't reply, only swirled her finger into the patterns on the table.

"You've got Griffin on your side," Jack rationalized. "He's the most headstrong bastard I know. Even if you didn't wanna he'd make sure it all gets figured out."

Parker lifted her eyes to look at Jack and drank in the honesty she saw in them. It was all she really wanted, a brief sense of tranquility. A moment where there was no one trying to kill her, no staring at endless amounts of paper, calculating number after number or coping with the truth of everything surrounding her. With Jack's words she could just sit there and try to take some comfort in them, in the fact Griffin was on her side.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: I can't make any promises with this story. It's pretty much a when I'm in the mood for it type of thing now. I apologize that it has to be that way. I also apologize for the grammar bit. I've never been very good with it. I always over look things. As for the many complaints I get for it, if it bothers you that much I'll be more than happy to hand over the chapter so it can get looked over. If interested my email is in my profile.

Chapter Sixteen

The sound of a fist connecting solidly with skin and bone played through the lair. At said sound, Griffin did not bat an eye, only shook out the hand that had thrown the punch. How many he'd dealt, he was beginning to lose count. He just knew that the guy was resilient. Griffin was way past his boiling point. He was ready for some answers and the silence coming from the man handcuffed to the chair was fueling the punches Griffin had been throwing for the past twenty minutes.

Griffin was tired. He knew it had to be dark out and while he was used to jumping all over the place which meant changing time differences constantly, it didn't mean that he never got tired. Just because he had the ability to travel anywhere in the world that he wanted, didn't mean that at any point he stopped being human. Griffin laughed a haunting laugh. He was at a point where he thought himself to finally be going mad, completely bonkers with all the shit that'd been cast his way.

Now, when he couldn't get a simple yes or no answer out of some pencil neck Paladin who was more lackey than anything, frustration had gone straight out the window and he was now facing that very real possibility of losing his mind. Of course this was an exaggeration, he wasn't _literally_ going to loose his mind, it only felt that way to him.

"Are you ready now?" Griffin asked leaning almost nose to nose with the man in front of him. Blue eyes drilled into dark and seemingly soulless ones and just looking into them made Griffin want to land another one to the man's jaw. The man spit blood onto the floor but kept his eye contact. Not one word passed his lips and it was all Griffin needed to raise his fist again.

"Fine then, have it your way."

Again he punched the nameless Paladin, not feeling an ounce of grief for the spotted bruising that was beginning to show.

"How's about now?" Griffin straightened standing tall as he shook out his hand like before.

The Paladin panted out his pain. "N-no matter what you do, I won't talk!"

Griffin picked up the chip once more and held it in front of the Paladin. "What the hell is this? And don't tell me you don't know. I know you pin pricks have the details. You were after it that night weren't you?" Griffin pierced his lips. "That night in Richard Hales' house you were after that letter and the chip!"

The Paladin only stared at Griffin, his expression set to emotionless.

Fed up, Griffin breathed and looked up at the ceiling. "You tore apart that damn house because you were looking for anything that was coming directly from The Network."

Still nothing. Griffin shook his head and returned his glare back to the Paladin. He'd be damned if he was going to let this carry on any longer. He stalked past the seated Paladin and slammed the chip down by his computer.

"If you don't want to tell me, then we'll have to start doing things a bit different then. I guess. It's you're choice." Griffin went to the place where he kept his baseball bat propped up against the wall and snatched it up.

"If I have to start shattering kneecaps that's fine." Griffin took up a stance in front of the cuffed man and readied the baseball bat. "Always fun for me."

And with as much seriousness and seemingly accurate hold, he lifted the bat. He'd every intention of lowering it onto the man's knee and it showed in every inch of him, but before he got close to the Paladin's kneecap the man shouted.

"Wait! Wait!"

Centimeters, just centimeters away from the Paladin's knee did Griffin stop the bat from potentially and most likely shattering the man's kneecap. Limply, Griffin dropped the bat in his hand as he stood up from his stance. With an expectant look he eyed the man dangerously. The man heaved and sucked in air before shuttering out an answer.

"Th-the chip carries sensitive material."

"What kinds of sensitive material?"

The Paladin turned his head away from Griffin and commenced to a multitude of coughs. This time Griffin wasn't at all patient for waiting on the information he desired. He gathered the collar of the man's shirt in both his hands and jerked him forward.

"What. Is. On. The. Chip?" Griffin's face was set in a hard vengeful fury.

Instead of an answer, which was what Griffin wholeheartedly expected, he got a hearty laugh. The Paladin's laugh grew louder and louder with speckles of a wheeze. Griffin released the bunched up material in his hands and backed away from the man as he snatched up his bat. The laugh the Paladin gave was the seal on the envelope that said he wasn't going to talk.

"Must've been worth killing her parents over? Make you feel good, pulling that trigger?"

The Paladin laughed more and without batting an eye replied. "You bet."

"I can tell you the feeling will be very much mutual." Griffin lifted his bat and the Paladin saw black.

°o.°o.°o

It hadn't been original, what Parker had told to Jack. He heard stories similar to hers a million times before; families or people in general getting entangled in the problems that only Paladins and Jumpers could create. It was unfortunate that something like that had to happen and happened so abruptly to Parker. She'd been thrown right into the thick of it with no warning. A realist Jack was and he had no intention of wishing that there was some way or some how to change things back to the way they were for her.

And even though he was a strong believer in fate and believing that things were the way they were for a reason, he did want things to take a turn for the better when it came to Parker's troubles. As reckless as he may have appeared to others, the heart he possessed was still made of pure gold. It was a trade mark of his and he knew it. Parker was an innocent caught up in the tangles of things beyond her control. For all the rebel-esque actions he ensued, he didn't think twice about committing the good deed that would be helping the girl out.

He only wished Griffin would see things his way. It was funny that Jack felt Parker should be helped with no strings or greedy agendas attached and Griffin was quite the opposite, or so he was leading everyone to believe. Jack should've been as hardened as Griffin about this, but he wasn't. He hadn't believed in spending the rest of his life living in bitter solitude despite the crap that'd happened to him, granted he was more of a wild child by nature, he just wouldn't stand for letting Paladins beat down who he really was.

"I'm a marshmallow when it comes to damsels in distress."

Jack, now perched on his worn counter top, watched Parker's journey to stay in the waking world. After their little chat on the mess she'd been thrust into the middle of, she hadn't said many more words on the subject, instead opting to focus on the scatter of papers before her. She lasted about a half hour before she'd began nodding off, her head falling from the cradle her hand created. Jack watched with amusement as she'd wake herself and try to go back to figuring out the dots on paper, but a few minutes later she'd dip back into sleep. It wasn't until about ten minutes ago had she given in and let her head rest on her papers and fell completely into sleep.

Jack imagined that Parker couldn't have been getting much sleep seeing as her parents' had been murdered, Paladins were after her and she was staying in a place that she wasn't used to with a person she could only trust because she had to. So it was more than understandable for her to fall asleep in the middle of calculating a code of great importance. Jack twittered his thumbs as he allowed himself to think about how sturdily Parker was holding up. He wondered if she took some time to stop and simply grieve over her parents. Being almost constantly tethered to Griffin, he didn't think so.

Jack didn't know what it was about Parker but he felt that she didn't belong in their world. Maybe it was because she was just a girl barely reaching into the throws of adulthood or maybe it was the softness that seemed to leak from every pore in her being. Jack didn't know to much about her as a person, but he felt bad for her. Jack had taken to swinging his legs slowly as to not bump them against the counter and wake Parker, when Griffin decided to appear. Griffin had only been to his place once, and to see him there now gave Jack a bit of a startle.

Jack brought a finger to his lips so as to quiet Griffin and pointed towards the table. Griffin looked from Jack and to the slumped over form of Parker.

"I was wondering when she'd finally crash out," Griffin said, not really bothering to lower his voice. He went over to her, about to rouse her from a much needed slumber, but was stopped by Jack. The taller Jumper slipped off the counter and held up a hand. "Wait man."

Griffin looked at him, an eyebrow raised in question. Jack didn't know how he wanted to voice what he was thinking and so he picked at the stud in his ear. "Um…"

"Look, I really don't want to stand here and wait for you to think of your words. Spit it out before I'm gone," Griffin said, his voice not conveying too much anger than it usually did. He turned back to the slumbering girl at the table. "Parker! Aye!"

Jack took a step forward seeing as Parker hadn't made one move to let them know she was awake. "I just wanna say that I'll be helping you guys out where I can, but I've just got one condition."

Griffin turned to Jack already fed up with what he was saying. "Get it straight that I don't need you to do _anything_."

Jack continued on anyway. "Don't let her end up like us," he said his tone higher than Griffin's and his eyes serious. "Don't let her," he finished in a whisper.

Jack's eyes drilled into Griffin's making sure that he was not just heard, but understood. Blue eyes slipped from Jack's rarely serious guise and onto Parker. Her eyes moved ever so slightly behind closed lids, her hair, now completely dry fell tangled against her neck and her head rested against her outstretched arm. Parker looked even more innocent in sleep than she did fumbling around him when she was awake.

Griffin looked back to Jack and for the first time he felt inclined to agree.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Yes, uploads have been few and far between. Inspiration just hasn't been there for me. Please enjoy what I have and I'll strive to push out more.**

He was going soft. He was definitely going soft.

Letting her sit in his chair and tap seemingly randomly at the buttons of the video game controller was a sure sign of the chink she created in his armor. As he sat at his computer, he rationalized with himself that giving her some sort of a distraction that didn't involve talking to him about how numbers weren't adding up and other random shit that seemed designed to pick at his nerves, would keep her from out his hair. Or so went his theory. There was real work to be done on his end. The Paladin he'd stalked and brought back to the lair might've been tight lipped, but the computer disks he had in the inside of his overcoat sung with information.

Information, that happened to be vague and cryptic.

Information that demanded his utmost attention.

If he ever wanted things to go back to the way they were, him not having to keep an eye on a trouble prone girl and not having to see his lair slowly become invaded by all things that represented Parker, then he needed to focus on what was in front of him and not whether or not Parker was going to figure out a way to screw up his high score on Need For Speed. Hiding a disgruntled sigh, he focused bleary eyes back towards one of the computer screens. Sifting through documents and reports had never been anything close to enjoyable for him, even if it had meant taking down some serious Paladin ass in the end. It was simply a chore, something to do on his path of revenge so to speak.

So he concentrated on the task he'd given himself. He wouldn't let the girl only a few paces away stop or put off what needed to be done. Blue eyes scanned through the text with a new sense of forced enthusiasm and his hand grabbed at a pen and poised it to take notes should he need to. For a minute or so it was only him. Him, a disk of information and the sound of multiple engines rearing in the video game being played. It was quiet until Parker decided to open her mouth, throwing him off his reading.

"I feel guilty."

Griffin broke away from the computer screen and shot Parker a calculated look before giving into nagging curiosity. He could've simply ignored her, and continued with what he'd been doing, but ignoring her seemed to be something he just couldn't really do any more. At this point Parker was now very hard not to pay attention to.

"I shouldn't be sitting here playing some game. I should be trying to figure out that letter." Parker slammed her thumb in rapid secession on the controller's button and shook her head.

"Well then, figure it out," Griffin waved a hand in her general direction, not really seeing her plight.

Parker didn't take her eyes away from the game in front of her for a second and jammed on the buttons harder than she had been.

"You're the one who I suggested that I do something other than glue my eyes to 'bloody dots' as you so elegantly put it."

"That was only because I was sick and tired of hearing you hmmm, and ummm and oh that's not right, this doesn't make any sense. God, I just wanted you to shut it already."

Parker paused in playing the game; her thumb froze in guiding the small joystick so that she could look over at Griffin's back. She was beginning to doubt him. The things he said sometimes didn't match up with his actions. Like saying he didn't care about her for instance and then going and making sure that she ate, or quite literally throwing blankets her way at night, even when she wasn't ready to sleep. Now was another little occurrence she was going to file away in her memory; he'd wanted for her to take a break from all that was tugging at her brain for attention, his annoyance towards her was only an excuse.

Parker smiled both sweetly and secretly at Griffin's unaware figure before letting herself settle back into the pits she'd cast herself into. Her eyes wandered their way to the television screen once more and any enthusiasm she had for playing the driving game diminished the instant her thoughts floated back towards the coded letter that sat only a small distance away. The game continued on, her opponents passing her by, but her brain being a million miles away didn't care.

"Anyway, if you want to dive back into your own bottomless frustrations by all means go right ahead, just don't let me hear about it, will ya?" Griffin had already settled himself back into the text presented on the monitor in front of him.

For seconds, Parker didn't say anything. She just watched her own virtual car sit idle on screen. The gears in her head were turning, trying desperately to connect the things plaguing her together. Nothing was making sense to her, not the dotted letter, or the chip her father had embedded in her shoulder. Parker continued to stare at her car. It hadn't been anything special by the game's standards, just one of the few that was made available and she hadn't even sooped it, just made it a shiny bright yellow with stripes across the sides.

As it sat there waiting for her to control it, she could see the small details the creator had put into the car. The shine of the headlights, the paint job, the glint off the metal fender, it was all too real appearing for a video game. Even as her chosen car appeared to vibrate there was exhaust emitting from its tail pipe.

The tail pipe.

The exhaust.

Her eyes zeroed in on them both.

Now Parker didn't have a mind for science. Never had, but it didn't mean she was completely lost when it came to the subject. Her father had been a scientist after all. He taught her a few things to grasp onto. For some reason, some odd, very peculiar reason the exhaust brought up the memory of gas. The gray almost clear foggy substance coming from the virtual car had her brain twirling with thought. Why were her thoughts delving deeper into something that didn't matter?

Griffin had said something else to her, but not by choice she'd tuned him out. Eyes seemingly in a daze as they focused on the screen, something popped into her head that for the split second she thought about it, made no sense.

Noble Gases. Argon, Xenon, Helium, Neon, Krypton, Radon, they all had been drilled into her by Richard and seeing virtual exhaust coming from her car triggered all the little facts that came along with gas. The six gases found on the periodic table had an oxidation number of zero and because of this prevented noble gasses from forming compounds at the ready. Helium-He, Argon-Ar, Xenon-Xe, Neon-Ne, Krypton-Kr, Radon-Rn. All of the information tied to gas was slamming before her, but she had no idea why.

When he heard no mousy response being offered forth, Griffin swiveled around in his chair. "Did you not hear me, sweetheart? In the probable case that you didn't I said you can't keep- What the hell?"

Griffin's eyes widened as Parker's small form came blubbering towards him at a speed that he hadn't expected. By the time he tried to throw his hands up to stop her from advancing too close to him, it was way too late. Her arms had found themselves around him and much _much_ to his exasperation she was squealing.

She. Was. Squealing.

This time Griffin wasn't as shocked as before when she'd pulled him into an uncontrolled hug and made quick work of peeling her arms from around him.

"What is wrong with you? You off your rocker are you? You can't make that a habit!"

Parker was grinning from ear to ear, more pleased looking than Griffin had ever seen her. He was too miffed with her actions though, to ask why she was in such a chipper mood all of a sudden. He needn't ask because Parker, ignoring his fiery look of irritation, announced to him her reasons for becoming so excited.

"I've got it!"

The giddiness in her made her look past Griffin's glare and bounce on the balls of her feet. Her hands were clasped together and her hazel colored eyes sparkled with her renewal of energy. Griffin ruffled his hair with a hand before crossing his arms against his chest, a sort of bracing gesture for what Parker was going to lay out for him. She turned away from him and made her way towards the mess of papers she'd laid out.

"I can't believe I didn't remember this sooner," she exclaimed as she shifted through the papers to pull out the letter that'd been giving everyone so much of a headache. Like a flag she waved it in the air and then trotted back over to Griffin, holding it out to him.

"What're you giving me this for?"

"Just take it," Parker pressed the dotted code to his chest and didn't wait for him to grasp onto it before bounding towards her opened suitcase. In her search for what she was looking for, she tossed various articles of clothing over her shoulder. Griffin, witnessing his lair become Parker's own personal closet, felt more than inclined to stand to his feet and voice his outrage and did just that. Griffin gripped the paper Parker had forced into his possession, mostly forgetting about it as he drove out words to her.

"Can you slam the anchors on for just a minute, because I don't think you realize that you've fuckin' lost your mind."

"Why didn't I remember," Parker mumbled out her question. She continued digging through her suitcase.

"Bloody look at what you're doing! Throwin' your shit everywhere." Griffin looked at all of Parker's clothes now scattered about.

"When I was younger my dad used to play this game with me." Parker still continued her search as she spoke. "Whenever I wanted something, a cookie, a movie to watch, or a game to play my dad would sometimes make me solve a code to get it; usually having something to do with whatever I wanted."

"Get to your poi-"

"Point being," Parker interrupted his rudeness, shrugging it off like a jacket on a hot day. "I think this letter could be sorta like the same thing."

A couple more seconds of rummaging around and she pulled out what she had been in search of. A black t-shirt with the periodic table of elements plastered to the back was held in her hands quite fondly. It'd been another nerdy gift her father had brought her when he hoped she'd follow in his scientist footsteps. It hadn't been too much of an appreciated gift, she only wore it when helping her mother plant the spring petunias in the front yard, but now she wished she prized the gesture more.

Griffin still had no clue as to what she was on about. He watched her hold up the t-shirt like it was the answer to all her problems. Griffin couldn't help but note that there was a noticeable sparkle in her eyes that had before been absent. The jumper pushed away from his computer and went to Parker. The notion of her getting a break in what seemed to be an unsolve-able case, got the best of his curiosity.

"Tell me, how is your shirt supposed to solve those dots?"

Parker thought if his voice had an expression it'd be sneering right then. She decided on not giving him a verbal answer but one he could see. She just prayed that this was it, that this was the answer. Parker walked around Griffin, towards her paper mess. Pulling the original letter to her eyes as she clutched her shirt, she quickly tried to calculate things out.

Griffin could do nothing more than look on as Parker's eyes darted over the paper. The whole situation surrounding them was tiring him out and as he watched her he felt its effects. Though he was relieved that they might be finally getting somewhere with the troublesome letter, seeing her so enthused was both making him sick and exhausted at the same time.

After scanning the paper she then turned it to Griffin and then pointed at one cluster of dots. "Five dots!"

Griffin shrugged.

"Multiplied by the twenty one dots next to it." She pointed to the multiplication sign then the small dots next to it.

"Soooooo," Griffin looked at her dumbly.

Parker rolled her eyes, sorry that he wasn't catching on as quickly as she had. "Sooooo, it equals one hundred and five."

"Parker, you're going to have to do a little better than that."

"One hundred and five equates to…" She paused and then fumbled a bit, switching from her view of the paper to looking at the back of the chart on her well worn t-shirt. "Dubnium."

Griffin flopped back down into his seat and with a tone purely sarcastic in nature said, "Ahhh Dubnium, that explains everything, now doesn't it?"

"Dubnium subtracted by five which is Boron and that just gives us D minus the B."

"Make sense, now," said Griffin.

"Whatever," Parker paused to sigh. "Number I equate will equal out an element on the periodic table and if I follow the equations carefully, they should spell out whatever this coded message is trying to say."

Griffin screwed his face up in a moments worth of confusion. "Wait, wait, wait are you saying that those stupid dots amount to a number on your periodic table?"

Parker nodded, "More or less, yeah."

"And whatever you come up with on the chart will give you letters to spell out something."

"By golly, I think you got it!"

"If you think you've really got it all figured out then quit talking and-and make with the figuring out. Need I remind you that time is a factor on my short list." Griffin swiveled around to face his computer once more, leaving Parker to unravel the dots.

Parker glared at the back of Griffin's head. "If you help things will go a lot faster."

No response came forth. Griffin only sat slouched in his chair as he scrolled through the information presented to him.

"How about I add a please?"

"How's about a no?" Griffin snarked. "I've got crap I'm looking into which means you're on your own."

Parker's glare intensified. Gathering her shirt to her chest, she marched back towards her makeshift study and sat cross legged on the floor, her body pulled up close to the trunk covered with papers. There was a renewed vigor as she dove back into the puzzle, having new pieces to factor in. Parker, sending one more glare Griffin's way, set off calculating and checking her t-shirt along the way. She actually didn't need his help at all. She did not need his help period when it came to figuring it all out.

What good would he be anyway with having to configure messages from the periodic table of elements? She'd probably end up spending most of her time explaining how to go about doing things for the second time anyway. Parker didn't understand why everything had to be like pulling teeth with him. It was like most of the time he tried to make things difficult. Somewhat harshly she snatched up her pencil and arranged papers in front of her before finally settling down.

That was how the next few agonizing hours went by, with her burying her head in elemental codes and factoring out sectioned off dots and Griffin muttering unintelligent curses every now and then as he stared almost unblinkingly at multiple computer screens. Every now and then Parker would rake a hand through her hair and pause just long enough to send a glare in Griffin's direction. All the frustrations she had, she sent to the back burner. Nothing mind bending or gut busting happened in that time. Not one visit from Jack, not one lull in the work they'd been doing, nothing at all spectacular happened except for as Parker got further into unraveling her periodic table theory; the more it seemed to be coming together.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** It's been quite some time. I apologize for that. Not quite happy with this chapter, but hopefully everyone enjoys.

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The dots were no longer as confusing as they were before.

In fact, it was becoming so enrapturing that she forgot all about her small tiff with Griffin.

She already had the first letter to her little puzzle, gaining the second was just as simple. Parker multiplied out seventeen dots by four more dots and got a total of sixty eight. "Erbium," she whispered to herself after she looked it up on the back of her spread out t-shirt. Parker scribbled out its shortened version Er and moved on. Pretty soon, as time ticked on, she'd scribbled down the few worked out letters that she had. The first cluster of dots had been detangled so to speak. All that was left was fitting them together.

Parker threaded her eyebrows together as she looked at the string of letters she equated the dots to.

_D. Er. Ac. D. M. Eu. N Ta. Er. Li. Li. N. O. T. Ac. La. Es._

The puzzlement was written all over her and she knew it. The letters seemed right. The formation seemed right. _Everything _seemed right…except it made no sense. At least not yet.

A loud slap sent her jolting from her comfortable position on the floor. Parker's head whipped around in the direction of the sound and it was only when she connected the noise to Griffin, did her heart begin to slow down its thunderous putter.

"I found it. I found him."

Parker propped her elbows up on the trunk and rubbed her fatigued eyes. "Who's him? What'd you find?"

Griffin swiveled around in his chair to look at Parker after what had been a substantial amount of time spent staring at a lightened screen. Out of his own break through, he checked his grumpiness at the door, at least for the split minute it was going to take to tell Parker what'd he had found.

"Alaster Fleming. A guy Paladins have been dying to get their soddy little hands on and quite literally I might add."

"Wait a minute, back up. Alaster Fleming?"

Griffin sighed at the annoyance of having to explain. His grumpiness was back. "Alaster Fleming, a guy fighting the good fight along with us Jumpers and the organization your father was in, The Network, only he's not." Before Parker could formulate a question, Griffin continued on. "Doesn't want to associate himself with any of it. Neither Jumpers nor The Network. He's a lone wolf, you might say."

"But he's helping you guys right," asked Parker.

"I swear you don't listen at all. I just said that." Griffin rolled his eyes and stood from his chair stretching. He proceeded to flick through stacks of papers on his desk in search of one that could be used to write on.

"Where'd you get that information from, if I can ask?"

"Doesn't matter," Griffin snipped.

Parker eyed his computer warily and then noticed the slight bruising on the knuckles of his right hand. Never ask questions that you really don't want to know the answer to. Her mother had said that and something told her to just let it go. Griffin probably wouldn't have told her anyway. Timidly almost, she walked to his scrambling side and watched his hands search for paper, the bruising was colored reddish with hints of purple. Parker wanted to know if it hurt at all, but he did not act as if it did, so she didn't interrupt him with the question.

It was important to him this discovery, she could tell. For a minute her eyes wandered from his hands to look at him. There was a fire in his blue eyes, his lips were set in a firm down turned line and his brow was creased. Always there seemed to be stress written somewhere on his face. Parker's eyes drifted back to his hands. For some odd reason she wanted to still them with her own, hold them for only a second, only so he could tell her where to go from there. Only so…was what she told herself.

"What do we do then?"

Griffin snatched up a blank sheet of paper before sending her a look that she was getting to know all too well. Before he even opened his mouth, Parker knew what he was going to say.

"I dunno, but I can tell you what we won't be doing. _We_ won't be paying Mr. Fleming a visit and_ we_ won't be pokin' him for information."

Skimming over that fact that Griffin was lacing his voice in sarcasm, Parker raised what she thought to be an excellently relevant question. "How will we get to Mr. Alaster Fleming when he obviously didn't want to be found meaning there must be safe guards, right?"

"Don't worry about it." Griffin sat back down at his computer and placing the paper aside, began typing furiously. Parker stood for a heated minute, just staring at Griffin's busy form. She felt it wasn't fair that he got to dictate what she could and could not partake in. Sure, she remembered to agreeing to do as he said, but it had only been a promise made out of fear. Yes, Parker was still afraid, and yes she still relied on Griffin, but she had questions that needed answering and she felt that she couldn't just sit on the sidelines.

Parker let out a frustrated sigh. "How come I can't come with you?" Her forehead showed the lines of distress. She crossed her arms as she waited for what she hoped would be a reasonable answer.

"You'll just get in the way," Griffin answered with a mumble. He wasn't putting forth his best efforts when it came to listening to her. He behaved in a way that told her his decision was final and the topic wasn't of too much importance.

"I won't get in the way," Parker said firmly. "If this Alaster Flemming can tell us something important, I think I have the right to know."

"And if he tells me something, then I'll let you know." The silence that followed let Griffin know just how upset Parker was about his decision. He didn't want to turn around and see her pair of hazel eyes staring at him with whatever emotion she was feeling at the moment. He didn't want to deal with Parker, didn't want to have a discussion on the pros and cons of what getting her involved even further in this would mean. Griffin didn't talk things over, he wasn't used to it. Whatever needed to be done, he did.

Parker used a voice she rarely displayed, which was harsh and borderline whiney. "This isn't fair Griffin!"

"You don't need to be involved in everything that I do."

"I'm not trying to be involved in _everything _that you do. Just this. It shouldn't even be dangerous."

"This is why you aren't coming!" Griffin rose once more from his seat and faced Parker with all the seriousness in the world present in his eyes. "You're too damn innocent. Ya don't even know how fast things can go south, even when it's supposed to be simple."

Parker frowned further and tried not to shrink under Griffin's angry and frustrated glare.

"Have you forgotten the little fiasco that happened at your house just that fast?"

Parker breathed deeply to stave off the anger that was uncoiling in the pit of her stomach. "That's an unfair thing to say Griffin and you know it."

At that time, where the air was thick between the arguing pair Jack chose to make his appearance, jumping between the two with a hefty stack of DVD cases in hand. Feeling the awkwardness around him, Jack looked between the two and raised his brow questioningly. He shifted on his feet, juggling what was in his hands before he decided he didn't care what he'd walked in on.

"Interrupting something am I?" Thrusting the stack of DVDs into Parker's arms and breaking the annoyed glare off she and Griffin were having he said, "Well too bad. Those are for you little bit."

Parker fumbled a little to keep all the DVDs from spilling out of her grasp. She looked at Jack, momentarily forgetting about her argument with Griffin. Before she could even ask why Jack had dumped an arm full of movies onto her, he answered her.

"They're for you. Thought you could use a break from everything." Jack ran a hand over his slickly gelled up Mohawk and the effect the action had made the hairs being pushed back spring up immediately. Griffin had told him certain things that Parker had left out in her version of the tale before he took her back with him that night. It felt like a rare moment the two of them shared what with the no arguments or snide remarks. Everything that the two of them had been going through, Jack was now informed and up to date on, and now because of the newly collected knowledge, Parker had been getting even more sympathy filled eyes from him.

Parker glanced at the first movie on top of her stack. Thirteen Going on Thirty. She had more of a chance of getting Griffin to let her tag along than of him letting her borrow his DVD player for watching the aforementioned chick flick. Of course, she appreciated Jack's thoughtfulness.

"Thanks," she said as she set all of the movies down on top of a case of Pepsi on the floor.

"Steal those did you?" Griffin sent a smirk Jack's way before he turned his attention back to the computer and took up a pen.

Jack feigned offence. He walked over towards a pile of papers on a table and began going through them nonchalantly. "Steal? Well I'll have you know that…OKAY, so what," he gave up without much effort. "I stole the damn movies," he pointed a finger in Griffin's direction. "The ass of a manager deserved it. Dude had his goony employees follow me around the store. Heard him call me a punk of a loser."

"So your response was to nick all the movies you could get your hands on and then claim them as presents for that one?" Griffin jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Parker.

Jack nodded, "Pretty much yeah."

"Figures," Griffin scoffed.

"Hey, I could've done a helluva lot worse you know!"

Parker looked at the hefty stack of movies before looking at Jack. "You stole them?" There was a bit of disbelief in the question she posed.

Jack thought it better to deflect the attention away from him and the small escapade he'd dove himself into that day, but before he could let out a change of subject, Griffin cut into his window of opportunity.

"See right there, prime example of why you need to stay put."

"What," Parker asked loudly. What they'd been arguing about before came up fresh again, like it'd never been put to the side for the second of interruption that Jack provided.

"You're too bloody soft, you are." Griffin swiveled a bit in his chair almost amused with bringing everything back to light, but knowing Griffin not quite. There was always a seriousness to be had when it came to him.

"Oh I'm soft?

"Yes, you are," Griffin stated as a matter of fact.

"I'm soft," Parker repeated, this time not as a question, but as a statement laced with offense. Offense that was highly justified when considering all the things she had been through in a short span of time. Parker was almost to the point of steaming at Griffin.

"Yeah, yes you are," Griffin's voice shouted over lapping Parker's own tone. She was beginning to get on his nerves in an unbearable way. He looked up at the ceiling before his computer made a bleeping noise drawing his attention to it.

"Hey! Hey now." Jack threw his hands out to bring to a halt the small explosion he saw between the two. He rolled his neck and closed his eyes trying to summon up some peace. "Parker's right."

Griffin's next words sounded strangely detached and uninterested when he very well should have been at Jack's declaration of which side he was on. He was done with the clickety clacks of the keyboard and was now hunched over the piece of paper he'd dug up. Every other second he was glancing between it and the computer screen. "Oh and how is Parker…right?"

Parker stared at the sudden cooled change in Griffin. She hadn't known him for very long, but she felt as if he were only indulging them, not at all interested anymore in the argument. His tenor wasn't quite enthusiastic. His posture appeared tense, anxious almost, back rigid. And just that fast she had figured out what he was doing.

Parker let the argument fall away like dust in the wind as her eyes zeroed in on one of the computer screens before Griffin. Lightly but quickly, she stepped over to Griffin, invading his personal space to the point where she was almost standing on his feet. The teenager's eyes narrowed at the screen and as she read what was before her, her mouth dropped in disbelief.

"Security details? Blueprints? An address," she shook her head. "It can't be that easy."

Griffin frowned. Finding the whereabouts of Alaster Flemming simply couldn't be as straightforward as locating the right Paladin and doing god knows what to him to obtain the information. And he thought as much when he first laid eyes on the address. As complicated as the situation was, it just couldn't be that easy and it never was usually. It typically took much more digging, much more hunting down various Paladins, extracting information from them in different ways of threat.

Was it possible that the Paladins where slipping with encrypting their information? The disk Griffin found on the Paladin was first thought to be hard to crack, but maybe he was just getting that much better at sifting through their bullshit.

Griffin's eyes skirted from the computer monitor to shoot her a look of borderline disgust. He wanted to tell her to back away, he wanted to relay to her a multitude of things that weren't exactly friendly because she was testing his nerves, but Griffin was well aware that whatever he would say would have no effect whatsoever on the girl before him. So he permitted her to get close and bug him, just as long as she understood that there was no going with him.

"What can't be that easy?" And right along with Parker Jack followed, saddling up to the other side of Griffin and leaning in to get a closer look of what was on the computer screen.

Griffin held back the curse he wished to let loose and instead said, "Nothing is ever easy." He gave up on keeping new information to himself.

"So when are we heading out?" Parker asked the question innocently. Full well she knew that Griffin hadn't wanted her to play side kick to his super hero, but she didn't care. With everything finally developing, she felt like things were actually getting somewhere.

"I've already told you, I'm going alone." With the newly acquired address in his hand, Griffin went for his jacket that was haphazardly strewn across the shabby couch. Parker watched as he pulled his arms into the sleeves and then tucked the address into his pocket. She couldn't believe he expected her to wait around for him like a good little lackey. She wanted to find out what everything meant just as much as Griffin did, if not more. The answer to why her parents' had been murdered and her life thrown into chaos could be right there. So close but yet so far away.

Parker cleared her throat and looked to Jack. "Could you give us a minute?"

Jack looked between Griffin who had not stopped getting ready to leave and Parker who looked to be battling a variety of emotions. Jack was no stranger to what he saw. Anger, frustration and heart break appeared as clear as anything on Parker's face. Whether or not to leave them to themselves Jack was not so sure. It was Parker's gentle voice that had him making up his mind.

"Please?" Her voice was gentle and pleading.

Jack extended a curt nod and before Parker could blink, he was gone.

"Griffin-"

"Parker!" Griffin's voice over took her own in volume. "We had an agreement. An _agreement._ Does that mean anything to you, sweetheart? You're supposed to be following my lead! Instead you're questioning my every step."

Parker shook her head, "I'm not questioning your every step. In fact, I haven't done that at all. I'm just asking to be included."

Griffin scoffed. Going over to his small work bench, he violently threw open one of the drawers and riffled through it. "Be included? How? Hate to inform you of this, but you're a dog's dinner." Griffin pulled out a small flash light. Sticking it in the pocket of his jeans he turned to Parker with a steely glare set.

Presumably, a dog's dinner had been some sort of insult and Parker gathered as much. She brushed it off. Insults weren't important to her at the moment. Getting Griffin to see her point was.

"What if the bastard's turned sides? Hm?"

"Why would he-"

Griffin waved off the question he knew she'd throw his way and interrupted. "Say Paladins have gotten to him. Threatened him in some way and forced him to see things their way? You don't know what you're walking into. You think I found ol' Alaster's address that easy because lady luck decided to go soft?" Griffin slammed the drawer closed, turning away from Parker, unable to look her way. "No. That shitty disk was planted on the bastard Paladin. Had to have been. They made it easy so this could go one of two ways. Either Flemming wanted to be found or Paladins have him and pressed him into setting a lure."

There was a pocket of silence. Parker couldn't bring herself to say anything at the moment and Griffin held a grip on the counter top of his workbench. After a bit, he cleared his throat, "You're not ready."

"You've showed me how to defend myself," Parker argued. She wasn't ready to give up on the matter. Watching Griffin run a hand through his unkempt hair, she felt tendrils of sympathy for him. Parker was well aware that this was difficult for him. Arguing when he would have just went about with what needed to be done.

"You're not ready," he repeated. His voice was more firm than the last time he'd given an answer.

Parker, dropping her eyes, went to his side. The anger fell from her with each step. Her frustration cast aside on the back burner. All that was left was the sadness that was always present within her, and had always been since her parents' death.

"Griffin," she looked at him then, saying his name forgivingly and then stressing her next words to the boy with the amazing gift before her. "Griffin, I _need_ this. I need to go with you. If I have a chance to make sense of wha-what happened to my parents I have to. I have to know. I can't wait for you to bring me the answers."

Griffin regarded Parker then. Her hazel eyes were brimming with unshed tears. He saw something in her that he always knew was in himself.

"I can't let you continue risking your life for me. I won't let you."

Something stirred within the robust and hardened young man. Something that was almost foreign yet wasn't.

"If it were your parents-" Parker swallowed, neither blinking for a fear of the present tears in her eyes, nor moving. It was a touchy subject she knew, to bring up his parents, but in that spectrum they shared a likeness. "If it were your parents you'd want to be right there too."

"It is my parents," Griffin corrected.

Parker nodded, tears fumbled from her eyes. Exactly what she did not want to happen. She placed her hand over Griffin's clenched calloused one. Immediately, Griffin loosened his grip on the counter, but he stopped himself from freeing his hand from under Parker's smaller, much softer one. It was unknown as to why he let her action be acceptable.

"I know. I know. So would you want to sit around and hope someone else brings you the answers you wanna know?"

Griffin sniffed and looked down at Parker's hand over his. He didn't offer up any words. He felt a lump in his throat. Imaginary he knew.

Parker felt the need to continue. "You and Jack… you guys are all I have for the moment. I can't…" she trailed off. Sniffing, she wiped at her eyes with an arm, a useless action because more took the place of the others she swept away. "It's pathetic," was the last thing she said before removing her hand from Griffin's and engulfing him in a hug. The warmth radiating from him was a comfort, yet it only caused her to produce more tears.

Griffin stood still as ever. Internally, he wondered what the hell was wrong with him. Where were his words of protest at her behavior? He should have been telling her how daft she was being. How she was proving his point of being not sound at all. He should have told her to take a number on wanting to have things go a certain way. He should have told her to try and thicken up her skin. Instead, he found his arms wrapped around her and his chin resting atop her brown curls.

Griffin saw in Parker how he had been when he'd first been put in the predicament of having his parents taken from him, a lost kid, just looking for things to be okay again. The sooner she realized that things would never be the same again, that there would be no going back to some sort of normal, the more hardened, cold and bitter she would become. He couldn't let that happen. Both Jack and himself had agreed to that. That would mean a win for Paladins.

"I can't lose you. I have to come. I have to."

When those words came muffled somewhat to his ears, he knew this situation had to find a resolution. This couldn't be it for Parker. Griffin sighed and grumbled something Parker didn't quite catch. She pulled away from him, wiped her tears and looked at him hopefully. "What?"

Griffin rolled his eyes. "I said you can come."

Parker nodded a tiny troubled smile on her face. Quickly, she reached on tip toes and planted a kiss on Griffin's cheek. The action took him aback and left Griffin flabbergasted and stunned for seconds. Parker moved around the lair, gathering things she might need. A small sample of the dotted code she had solved, the small knives she'd been practicing with. She placed those, four in total in the pockets of her jeans.

Finally recovering Griffin stumbled on choked out words, "B-but you follow my…my lead of course."

"Of course," Parker agreed.

"And you don't- don't get in my way!"

"Mhm," Parker replied.

He watched her move in a blur around the lair. Her curly mass of hair danced behind her as she gathered up things. He could see the slight tremble of her hands and the tears still building in her eyes. "Hurry up will ya, yeah?" The gruffness of what he said was only to appear fine when he was not. He had hoped that the rudeness of the command would stop the stirring within him.

It had not.


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:** I must admit that I am shocked that there are still those out there taking a real interest in this story. For that I thank you. I can't see too many more chapters left. I'm in the process of wrapping things up so things have to get stepped up a notch. Sorry if this chapter reads a little rushed. I have so little time any more so my apologies. Any mistakes are mine. No need to tell me, I already know. Enjoy!

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Parker felt her heart speeding up with each passing moment. She wondered how Griffin did things such as this on a regular basis. Her stomach churned out of control. There were various knives tucked away in the dark cargo pants she wore and silently she prayed that she would not have to put them to use. Parker was second guessing her decision to be included even though she knew she couldn't leave Griffin to perform the brunt of things.

Currently, Jack, Griffin and herself were hidden behind massive bushes. A single set of binoculars were being shared between the three and every now and then, they'd peak over at a building that was currently experiencing a lot of traffic. Being that they were dressed in black, atop a hill, they were well unnoticed. Parker should have felt alright about their hiding spot but she did not. Her hands shook as she grasped the binoculars Jack passed to her.

The tremor did not go unnoticed to Griffin as he surveyed both the spot where Alaster Fleming allegedly was and Parker. His doubts about involving her still rang within him, but ultimately it would have come to this moment. He snuck a look as Parker whipped her head around them, in a paranoid way, before putting the binoculars to her eyes. The memory of her hug flashed in his mind without his control. Griffin gave his head a small shake.

He couldn't afford not to have his head in the game.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Jack, with a more tamed look, was hunched over. His shirt was free of rips, scrawl or pins and his pants matched in quite the same manner. He rubbed cold hands together and looked at Griffin.

Griffin shot him an annoyed look. "Of course this is the right place."

"Moscow? A Chinese restaurant in Moscow no less," Jack said surprised. "I didn't even know Moscowians had Chinese food."

Griffin muttered, "It astounds me how dim you are."

"Yeah well," Jack having caught what Griffin said raised a middle finger to him. "You could've at least gave us a heads up to grab coats for this little excursion. You've got little bit here shivering."

Griffin did not all together believe Parker was shivering due to the extreme cold they were exposed to. Parker hadn't batted an eye to their talk. The binoculars stayed glued to her eyes as she looked at what was before them.

"I thought Englishmen were supposed to be gentlemen," Jack scoffed.

"Shut it will you?" Griffin snatched the binoculars from Parker and spied things himself. "We aren't going to be out here for long."

"What's the plan," Parker asked trying to take her mind away from being nervous.

Griffin lowered the binoculars, looked at Parker and smirked. "Simple."

Jack shook his head. "I don't like the sound of this."

Parker bit her lip as she walked towards the entrance of the building. Her brown curls blew about her as the wind picked up. She chanced a glance behind her to where she knew Griffin and Jack were still hiding. Griffin no doubt watched her through the binoculars while Jack argued logistics of the plan. She was nothing but a mess of jitters but she was determined to not screw things up.

Parker went through the door and was meant with a cacophony of delightful smells. Just as predicted by the shuffle, the place was packed wall to wall. Scooting and squeezing past folks talking and trying to figure out what they wanted, Parker spotted a void in the crowd and filled it. She feigned studying the menu posted above heads. The plan was so simple Parker was more than sure it wasn't going to work.

"Chink yeda dovolʹno khorosha!"

Parker looked over at the heavyset man who had uttered words she was sure had been a racist remark. He was with another man of equal weight. Parker knew they had to be nice and toasty with all their weight stuffed well into their thick coats. She wished she had a coat on, but with all the bodies around her and being in from the cold, she was beginning to warm up. Getting her head back into the game, she looked at who was working the counter.

One, two men. Both of which took orders nonstop and relayed them by yelling out food under numbers to those in the back. Parker took a quick head count of those who were patrons. Her eyes slipped to the visible kitchen behind the two men receiving orders. Small Chinese women ran around dumping pots filled with water over sinks and sautéing various foods in giant woks. Had she been in any other circumstance, Parker would have loved to sit and watch them cook.

It was damn near hypnotizing.

"UMPH!" Parker felt someone roughly bump into her. For a second, she felt the air leave her lungs in a rush and got instantly mad. With furrowed brows and an empty head, she forgot what was to occur until she looked over and saw both Griffin and Jack.

"Sorry sweetheart," Griffin apologized. He stared at her as if waiting for something.

Parker touched both hands to her cheeks twice, and then a solid finger swiped itself against her left cheek. Two fingers she rubbed on her ear and she placed her palm over her heart. "It's okay," she said breathlessly.

Griffin nodded his head. Message received.

"Twenty one in, two behind the counter, five in the kitchen." Griffin inconspicuously relayed the information to Jack. He pushed past the crowd and brushed against her with Jack following a few paces behind. He whispered to her, "Action."

Silently, Parker sent up a prayer before she let out a shrill scream. All attention in the room turned to her in an instant.

"That man! That man right there!" She pointed a finger towards the man whom she thought was racist. Parker screamed again. The two men behind the counter stopped taking orders to look over.

"He-he touched my ass!" Parker looked in the direction of Jack and Griffin and saw them slink towards the kitchen. For dramatic effect she patted the back pockets of her cargo pants. "My wallet is gone now! It's gone!"

The man being accused looked confused. Parker continued to wave her finger in his direction. Others looked on at the man, some from disgust or confusion.

"Thief!" Parker screamed. "Thief!"

"Ty, suka!" The man bellowed, clearly enraged that he was being accused. Whether or not he understood Parker, she didn't know.

"I'm no thief." The man's cheeks reddened. "Im ne vor!" He shoved past people and advanced towards Parker and as if she'd been a few blocks around the corner when it came to acting, she dropped like a hat. The place went silent. The man stopped in his tracks, just a few inches from Parker.

The entire kitchen was looking at the happenings in the front of the restaurant. The two small Chinese men came from behind the counter and crouched down before Parker. Other patrons looked at the man who made the slight American pass out with anger. Before a word could be said or any action could be taken, Jack appeared excusing himself to others. He knelt beside Parker and gently shook her shoulder.

"She's a friend," he explained quickly. With a nervous laugh, he asked the two men who'd been working the counter if they spoke any English. One of the two men nodded.

"He stole from her," the man who spoke English pointed up towards the gigantic red faced man. Jack followed the digit pointing towards the man and acted as if he was afraid.

"J-just keep it man." Without hesitation, he pulled Parker up by her elbow. "Time to wake up sleeping beauty," he muttered in her ear. With that cue, Parker popped her eyes open and let Jack usher her out the door.

"How'd I do?" Parker shook her hair out and posed the question once they were out of earshot and around the corner.

"Amazing. That shit was risky. Coulda went south real quick but we made it. Grif and I snuck into the kitchen with ease thanks to your awesome diversion. There's a secret elevator in their walk in fridge."

"Just when I thought I could stop being cold," Parker groaned. "Is he waiting for us?"

"Righto. Gotta make it quick. Come on." Jack pulled Parker through an alley and behind a dumpster. From there he jumped, and before she could blink Parker was standing before Griffin.

Her breath was visible in the walk in refrigerator and danced in front of her as she breathed.

Griffin gave her a smile that was barely there. "Let's not arse around about this." Griffin walked ahead of his two companions, leading them past multiple heads of lettuce and boxes of carrots. The elevator door was behind shelves of lifeless whole chickens, their heads still intact. Parker tried ignoring them while Griffin pressed the button and waited for the elevator to spring open.

Jack placed a hand on Parker's shoulder. The action reassured her, but the feeling of turmoil entered her stomach once more. The feeling she was getting was a bad one, but she choice not to voice her feelings. Griffin and Jack were with her, she'd be fine. The elevator opened up and Griffin stepped in first followed by Parker and then Jack.

Parker looked at Griffin and couldn't imagine how he stayed so calm. Their elevator ride was short lived and soon the doors opened up for them. They were meant with the sight of a wall made entirely of boxes.

"What the he-"

Griffin shot Jack a look that told him to shut his mouth. He stepped from the confines of the elevator and found that the wall of boxes was put in front of the entrance for a reason. Peering around, that reason became apparent. Parker followed but stopped behind Griffin when he quickly raised a hand to halt them from advancing further. Parker took a peak over Griffin's shoulder.

It was exactly what he'd said earlier.

Alaster Fleming had been found out.

"Mr. Cox," Parker whispered under her breath. She couldn't believe it. Parker heard Jack say something about not being able to catch a break. The image of her parents flashed within Parker's mind and an anger she'd never in her life felt before bubbled up within her.

"Fucking Roland." Griffin balled his hands into fists.

The trio watched behind the safety of boxes as Roland Cox raised a gun to Alaster Fleming, a man with little hair atop his head and short and stout in size. Over sized spectacles sat on the bridge of his nose and he was perched on a stool, appearing as if he did not care at all that he was being held hostage.

"I don't give a damn where you stand in this. All I know is if you won't help the right side, we've got a problem Mr. Fleming."

Parker heard the hate filled in Roland's voice and couldn't believe her parent's had once invited him into their home. She couldn't fathom that there was a time she passed him mash potatoes at the dinner table and laughed at his corny knock knock jokes. Parker dug in her pocket and took out of the knives secured there.

"He knows we're here," Griffin said to them.

"Roland?" Jack questioned while trying to stay still.

"No," Griffin shook his head. "Fleming."

"How do you know," Jack asked.

"Look at the bloke. He's been waiting."

"Where is it?" Roland cocked the hammer back on his gun.

"Look, I don't know. I've told your god damn monkeys that and now I'm telling you. Even if I did, I don't have the workings to get to it." Alaster tapped fingers against his thigh.

"You have to do something Griffin," Parker said. "He'll kill him. He'll kill him and we'll never get his help. He doesn't deserve that."

Griffin waved a hand in her direction. "I am."

"For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to [execute] wrath upon him that doeth evil." Roland spoke with a voice mighty and sure. "Roman thirteen four."

Alaster Fleming laughed and while looking the other man in the eye said, "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James one nineteen."

There was a pause for what seemed like an eternity. Alaster kept up the repeated taps against his thigh. Roland's eyes moved from Alaster's to the man's hand.

"You son of a bitch!" Without hesitation, Roland pulled the trigger and turned towards the direction of the elevator.

"NO!" Parker darted from their hiding place and threw the dagger she had been holding on to.

Jack lunged for her, but it was too late. Parker's knife found itself embedded in Roland's side. Parker didn't see the Paladin grimace. Her eyes shot to Alaster and the image of him slumped over on the floor, with bits of his brain matter beside him made her scream. This time no acting was required.

"I got it. Let's go," Griffin announced. He grabbed Parker around her waist, pulling her to him. Facing Roland he nodded faking pleasantries. "Nice to see you again Roland. As always, a pleasure."

Roland, enraged, fired off a shot at them but it was too late. Griffin, Parker and Jack were gone.

After a series of random jumps so that Roland could not trace and follow them, they were safe to return back to the lair. Once on solid, Jack sent a hand through his Mohawk, unsticking it from his head.

"What the fuck man?!"

Griffin knew exactly what Jack was thinking.

"I've got all we need," was his simple reply.

Jack threw up his hands. "How? How could you possibly have what we need when old dude back there got his brains blew out before we could even give ourselves intros?"

"Morse code."

Jack parroted, "Morse code."

Parker, having been seemingly forgotten for the moment, freed herself from Griffin's side and moved to the couch. She fell into the pliable cushions and curled into herself.

"Fill me in later?" Jack watched the unmoving figure of Parker and thought it best to make his exit. Without waiting for confirmation, he patted Griffin on the arm and jumped leaving the two alone.

Griffin sighed as he watched Parker and her still form. Every so often she let out a sniffle or two. He debated going over to her. He debated on whether he should mind his business and jot down the information he had acquired lest he forgot. But ultimately, his newly acquired soft side won the battle. He went over to her and pushed her a bit so that she'd take the hint and scoot over.

It was a tad awkward. Griffin didn't know what to say to her. She had not done such a terrible job as he imagined she would, but then he didn't think she would want to hear that at the moment. Seeing a person die never got old to a person like Parker, that he knew. Luckily, for Griffin he didn't have to break the silence within the lair. Parker did.

"You were right," she sniffled. "I shouldn't have come. I wasn't ready for that."

"You did alright," Griffin grunted.

"He-Alaster…."

"You can't think about that shit. It'll drive you mad."

"I'm already mad Griffin." Parker sat up, pulling her legs under herself.

"No, not mad mad. Mad insane." Griffin explained. "When you have something that needs doing, you put feelings aside. Feelings get you killed."

Parker looked down at her hands as she felt the fresh sting of an onslaught of tears.

"Cheeky move back there." Griffin looked at her and nudged his shoulder against hers.

"Yeah," Parker let a twinge of hope slip through her tone.

"Yeah."

"Which one? My acting or throwing a knife at Mr. Cox?"

"Don't get cocky," Griffin admonished.

Parker removed the remaining knives off her person and tossed them to the floor. She wiped away tears and snuggled more comfortably into the couch. Resting her head against Griffin's shoulder she relaxed. Later, she told herself she'd make Griffin tell her what the morse code was about. Later would be waiting.

Now she wanted to try and erase the mental image of Alaster Fleming's demise from her head. Let Griffin chase it away with the closeness of his presence. The amazing part was that he let her stay tucked close to his side.

No more words needed to be said that night.


End file.
